cuvier’s thick-bill. 
87 
half the length of the second, which the female has 
not. The hill and feet in both sexes are blue-black. 
Total length, 6 inches ; bill, gape, f ; front, ^ ; 
wings, 2f ; tail beyond, 2} s ; tarsus, iV 
The 
FLUVICOLINiE or water-chats 
constitute the last of these aberrant divisions of this 
family. As it not only forms the passage to the 
shrikes but also to the Sylvuidce (as the other side 
of the dentirostral circle), it consequently presents 
in its contents a considerable deviation from the 
general characteristics of its own family. The birds, 
in fact, are terrestrial flycatchers, preserving all the 
characters of their tribe except in the legs, — these 
members being large, high, and stout, adapted for 
constant exercise upon the ground, where these birds 
are almost invariably seen. We have no examples 
of this group in England, but we may gather some 
idea of their forms and habits by looking to the stone- 
chats of Europe. Along the Brazilian rivers and in 
all the flat and humid savannahs, these birds are 
seen running with great celerity in pursuit of insects, 
and moving their tail in the manner of our wheat- 
ear, which bird they further resemble in the black 
