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MUSCICAPIN.E. 
most perfectly organized group, — in reference to 
the true distinctions of that circle to which they 
belong, — in the whole sub-family. These typical 
distinctions are seen in the length of their wings, 
giving a power of flight not possessed by the Todies ; 
their strongly hooked hill, the long and stiff bristles 
round the mouth, and their remarkably short, hut 
not syndactyle feet; their habits are strictly in 
unison with these characters. They fill the same 
station, in short, in their own circle, as the Coni- 
rostres do among the Perchers, and we hence 
conclude that they are analogous. If this position 
is true, it necessarily follows that the Todies and the 
Dentirostres are also analogous ; because the affinity 
between Muscicapa and Todns is just as perfect and 
unquestionable as that between the Conirostres and 
the Dentirostres. Whether this analogy is shown 
in a more direct manner by certain habits possessed 
by both, of which we arc at present ignorant, is a 
question to he determined hereafter; but we can 
discover no tangible analogy in their structure 
which would lead us immediately to conclude that 
they mutually represented each other. Passing to 
the two next groups brought under comparison, 
namely, Meyalophus and the Fissirostres, we have 
one point of strong resemblance in the feet. The 
toes of the only species of Megapodius yet disco- 
vered, are much more united than in the typical 
examples of the two preceding genera, although its 
crest would seem to give this bird an equal claim 
to be considered a rasorial type. In determining, 
