laniadjE. 131 



back part ; so that, in fact, the lateral scales so conspicuous in Muscicapa are 

 entirely wanting among- the Tyrant Fly-catchers. Then, as to the structure of 

 those members employed in flight. The arrangement of the primary quills in this 

 group is very peculiar • the wings are so far pointed, that the first and second 

 quills are very little shorter than the third and fourth, which always exceed the 

 others ; sometimes, indeed, (as in T. intrepidus, vociferans, and crudelis,) the 

 wings are so admirably adapted for rapid flight, that the second quill is as long as 

 any of the others, and the first very slightly shorter ; while even among the 

 smallest Tyrannulce the first quill is invariably more than three-fourths the length 

 of the longest. Now, upon looking to the Fly-catchers of the Old World, we 

 see an arrangement strikingly different : the first quill is invariably spurious, that 

 is, so short as to appear but half developed ; the second and third are progres- 

 sively graduated ; and the full length of the wing is only attained by the fourth 

 and fifth quills. Hence these members, however lengthened they may be in parti- 

 cular species, assume a rounded form, and betray a decided inferiority in the 

 power of flight to that which is possessed by the American Fly-catchers. Even 

 in the well-known Muscicapa atricapilla of Southern Europe, whose wings are 

 certainly longer and more pointed than any of its congeners, the first quill is very 

 small. As connected also with the most important economy of those groups 

 which feed upon the wing, and consequently depend for subsistence on their flight, 

 the tail deserves great attention : and here, likewise, we may detect a strong 

 characteristic of the Tyranninas, by which they are detached from all others of 

 similar manners. There is a peculiar breadth in the caudal feathers of all the 

 species, particularly towards their extremity ; and although this member is either 

 forked, divaricated, or square, we have never met with one species wherein the 

 tail is rounded*. Now, among the Old World Muscicapce the very reverse of 

 this structure is most prevalent : the tail, if not narrower, is scarcely ever divari- 

 cated, never forked, and very rarely perfectly square at its extremity. Even in 

 the Muscicapa (Seisura) volitans of New Holland, which bird has been expressly 

 stated to have an even tailf, we find this member, in three specimens now upon 

 our table, decidedly rounded. There are, nevertheless, some few species of true 

 Muscicapa? where the tail is really even ; and such exceptions, however rare, 

 render this distinction of less value than that furnished by the wings and tarsi. 



* The Rufous Tyrants, formerly referred by us to this sub-family, have a rounded tail ; but we have since placed 

 them with the Myotherinm, under tbe generic name of Dasycephala. 



■\- ' ; The genus Seisura is, however, sufficiently distinguished from Ripidura by the tail being even, not rounded, at 

 the end." — Horsfield and Vigors, Linn. Trans., vol. xv., p. 250. 



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