220 MUSCICAPA. 



the probability of its being a true flycatcher ? Some- 

 thing, it must be confessed, but not quite ; for we 

 shall now mention a bird as actually having the 

 typical feet of a flycatcher, but which, in size, 

 colour, and appearance, is so like a robin, that no 

 one, even a professed ornithologist, would be able 

 to distinguish one from the other, unless the feet 

 and the wings were carefully examined. It is, in 

 fact, the most extraordinary instance of disguise, or 

 rather of complete analogy, that has ever occurred 

 to our observation in the whole animal kingdom. 

 Let the reader suppose a robin before him, and he 

 has an exact picture of our Muscicapa erythaca. A 

 single specimen of this bird is in the Paris Museum ; 

 nor were we perfectly satisfied it was not a decep- 

 tive preparation until we examined it most atten- 

 tively, for the purpose of seeing that the feet were 

 actually united by the skin to the body. It proved, 

 however, in this respect, to be perfectly genuine ; 

 and we shall now figure and describe it. 



