CHARACTERS OF MYIADESTIN^E 



43 



SUBFAMILY MYIADESTINJE 



FLYCATCHING THRUSHES 



The essential character of this group has been indicated on 

 a preceding page. It has usually been associated with Ptilo- 

 gonys and Phccnopepla in 

 the family (Ampelidce) 

 which contains the Ce- 

 dar Bird and Bohemian 

 Wax wing; from all these 

 birds, however, the boot- 

 ed tarsi, speckled state of 

 the young, and other char- 

 acters sufficiently distin- 

 guish it. In comparison 

 with the Thrushes, among 

 which it is now located, 

 it differs in the shorter, 

 broader, more depressed, 

 and flycatcher-like bill, 

 with its deeply-cleft ric- 

 tus and very short gonys, 

 the smaller and weaker 

 feet, and in the peculi- 

 arly double - inarginatC FlG . 5 .__ De tail S of external form of Myiadestes (M. tovn- 



tail, the feathers of which sendi) bil1 and feet natural 8ize ; win & an <* tail * 

 taper gently from base to tip. It is a small group, nearly con- 

 fined to the warmer portions of America, comprising only two 

 or three genera, the leading one of which is the 



Genus MYIADESTES, Sw., 



which was established by Mr. William Swainson, in 1838, in his 

 arrangement of the Flycatchers, a work forming part of Sir 

 William Jardine's " Naturalists' Library ". It consists of ten or 

 twelve species, only one of which occurs within our limits, the 

 others being more southerly. In addition to the characters just 

 noted, it may be observed that the species of Myiadestes agree 

 in their rather uniform dark or dull coloration, variegated with 

 brighter tints on the wings. They form part of an interesting 



