132 



MYADESTES; 



we shall not only characterize this form, but en- 

 deavour to demonstrate it as the rasorial type of 

 Rhipidura. The bill is small, angular, and much 

 depressed towards the base ; but the culmen is 

 slightly and gradually bent, and the gonys ascends, 

 in the same degree, towards the point : the rictal 

 bristles are few and short, and do not extend to 

 one-half the length of the bill : the wings are mode- 

 rate, not reaching beyond the tail- covers; their 

 structure is the same as in all the Old World fly- 

 catchers, but the first and second are suddenly nar- 

 rowed at their tips; a character we have not met 

 with in any other of this family. The legs, for a 

 flycatcher, are strong, the tarsus moderately length- 

 ened, and the toes considerably developed, much 

 longer, in fact, than either in PMpidura or Leuco- 

 circa. The middle toe is as long as the tarsus; the 

 inner toe much shorter than the outer, but both are 

 cleft to their base ; the hinder and inner toes are 

 equal ; the legs are very pale, and the tarsal scale 

 is in one entire piece ; the breadth and curvature of 

 the claws, joined to the relative length of the toes, 

 renders it highly probable that this bird does not 

 habitually frequent the ground. But its great 

 peculiarity lies iu the tail, which is moderately 



