MUSCICAPID^. ' 44S 



Artamia, sometimes placed in this sub-family, is said doubtfully 

 to belong to it ; but there are some Madagascar birds, which, when 

 better known, may be found to be nearly related to the Artamhia;. 

 The genera Analcipits, Swains, and Anais, Lesson, are sometimes 

 located here, sometimes among the Orioles. 



Fam. MusciCAPiD.?5, Flycatchers. 



Billr rather wide, depressed, shallow; the culmen straight, dis- 

 tinctly hooked and notched at the tip ; rictal bristles (typically) 

 numerous and strong ; wings moderate ; tall generally rather shorfe 

 or moderate ; tarsus short, weak.; feet moderately small, feeble. 



The Flycatchers are a group of insect-eating Dentirostres, 

 generally of small size, and with a much more feeble bill than 

 any of the Shrikes, but with the gape wide, and tolerably strong 

 rictal bristles to enable them to seize and hold wino-ed insects, Avhich 

 form their chief diet. Their wino-s are not adapted for long and 



O J. o 



speedy flight, but they are capable of rapid and powerful sallies j 

 their legs and feet, only used for perching, are short and feeble. 



In India there are two distinct groups or sub-families, the Aiyia- 

 grina, comprising the Muscipeta and Rhipidura of Cuvier, with 

 a few others; and the IfuscicapiiicB, nearly corres[;ondlng to the. 

 restricted Muscicapa of Cuvier, containing birds more or less related 

 to the European Flycatchers, and many other :.i;ied forms. 



Some of these last are ranked among the Saxicolinos, or Stone- 

 chats, by Blyth and Horsfield : but Gray includes them all in his 

 lluscicapiiice, and I quite agree with him. In their anatomy, the 

 Flycatchers do not differ much from the usual type of Den- 

 tirosires. The stomach is not very muscular, and the intestines 

 are rather short. In some the keel of the sternum is tolerably 

 developed. 



It does not seem very clearly agreed on, what families of birds^ 

 foreign to India, should be included among the Flycatchers ; but 

 the greater part of the Ti/rannime, or Tyrant-flycatchers, and the 

 AlectrurincB of Gray (Fluvicoliucs of Swainson), both American 

 groups, should [)ev]iaps be located here. Gray and Swainson in- 

 clude, among their Mascicapidcfi, the Vlreouina or Greenlets, aad 

 the Tifyriiue, or Blackcaps, both from America ; but they appear 



