MUSCIPETA carinata, 

 Keel-billed Flycatcher. 



Generic Character. — See PI. 116. 



Specipic Character. 

 M. plmnbea, infra ferruginea ; f route jiigidoque nigris ; temporibus 



albentibus ; rostri culmine carinafo. 

 Plumbeous ; body beneath ferruginous ; front and throat black ; 



sides of the head whitish ; top of the bill carinated. 



jVIr. Brookes, the celebrated anatomist, first drew my 

 attention to this singular bird ; the peculiarity of the bill 

 suggested to us the idea of creating a genus for its recep- 

 tion ; but a closer comparison of its other characters with 

 several of the exotic Muscipetcz induces me, at least for the 

 present, to associate it with those birds. The Flycatchers, 

 as they now stand in the works of Latham, Shaw, and other 

 Linnsean writers, undistinguished even by sections or sub- 

 divisions, present a mass of confusion, which renders the 

 search after an individual, in this immense genus, almost 

 hopeless. 



Total length, six inches and a half; front, throat, and 

 margin of the shoulders, deep black ; the whole upper 

 plumage is of a delicate lead colour, which is paler on the 

 breast, and nearly white on the sides of the head and neck; 

 body and inner wing covers rufous ; the first quill is half 

 the length of the second, which is rather shorter than the 

 three next ; feet slender, weak, and short ; the outer toe 

 united, the inner cleft. The bill at the base is triangular, 

 but not elevated ; the sides compressed ; the culniin, or 

 top, is sharp, elevated, and curved ; the tip of both mandibles 

 notched : nostrils simple, small, round, without a membrane, 

 and partly hid by the thick-set frontal feathers, and length- 

 ened setaceous bristles round the bill. These parts are deli- 

 neated on the plate of their natural size ; and must form the 

 basis of any future generic alteration in the arrangement of 

 this bird. The figure was from a specimen belonging to Mr. 

 Brookes ; since which, I have received two others from New 

 Holland. 



PI. U7. 



