208 MY1AGRA. 



which we shall presently describe and figure, 

 namely, the My'iagra longicauda. It is entirely 

 blue, and has the graduated tail of Phipidura and 

 its prototypes ; the bill, however, is unusually broad, 

 and somewhat dilated at the base, while the bristles 

 are so long as almost to reach like those in the fan- 

 tailed flycatchers to the end of the bill. By this 

 form we are prepared for the second, as seen in 

 Myiagra latirostris, where the tail is shorter, and, 

 although not graduated like the last, is yet decidedly 

 rounded ; while the bill is so short and broad, as 

 immediately to remind us of the genus Todus, or 

 rather of its sub-genus Platyrhynchus. The breadth 

 of the bill lessens, and its length increases, in the 

 Mylagra coerulia and torguata; and in the same 

 proportion does the tail loose its roundness, until we 

 come to M. rubiculoides and Plumlea (H. and V. ), 

 both of which have the tail-feathers completely even, 

 and the wings, as already observed, more pointed. 

 The fourth type of form is very remarkable ; it is ex- 

 hibited in a species from Africa in the Paris Museum. 

 The head and bill is unusually large, while the 

 crown is surmounted by a conspicuous pointed 

 crest ; the wings are lengthened, and the tail so 

 short as hardly to project beyond them. Still more 

 remarkable are the feet, which, although rather 

 stout, are so excessively small, that the tarsus only 

 measures four-tenths of an inch, being the exact 

 length of the hind toe and claws : contrary, also, to 

 any example yet known in the whole of this sub- 

 family, the feet are of a beautiful yellow, with the 



