MYADESTES. 133 



lengthened and slightly graduated, having some- 

 thing of the size and form of Leucocirca, excepting 

 that the feathers, instead of being broad, are rather 

 narrow, with the tips acuminated. 



Such are the characters of the bird before us. It 

 is at once distinguished from our sub-genus Musci- 

 capa (as subsequently defined) by its long toes and 

 lengthened graduated bill; and from Leucocirca^ 

 by its small slightly bristled bill, and those other 

 indications which unite it to the genuine flycatchers : 

 the whole structure of the bird, particularly in the 

 head, which is thick like that of the robin, is quite 

 opposed to that slenderness of shape so general 

 among its congeners. Lastly, although not one of 

 the least of its characteristic marks, is the pure 

 white which ornaments the ends of the three pair 

 of lateral tail-feathers. Laying all these particulars 

 together, we view this bird as the rasorial represen- 

 tative of the fan -tailed flycatchers : its unusually 

 long toes, its attenuated tail and quill-feathers, and 

 its almost smooth rictus, are all so many indications 

 of the type it represents, setting aside the deve- 

 lopement of the tail, because that is the character- 

 istic of the entire group of which this type forms 

 but a part. 



