132 
MYADESTES ; 
■\ve sliall not only characterize this form, but en- 
deavour to demonstrate it as the rasorial type of 
Rhipidura. The bill is small, angular, and much 
depressed towards the base ; but the culmen is 
slightly and gradually bent, aud the gonys ascends, 
in the same degree, towards the point : the rictal 
bristles are few and short, and do not extend to 
one-half the length of the bill : the wings are mode- 
rate, not reaching beyond the tail- covers; their 
structure is the same as in all the Old World fly- 
catchers, but the first and second are suddenly nar- 
rowed at their tips ; a character we have not met 
with in any other of this family. The legs, for a 
flycatcher, are strong, the tarsus moderately length- 
ened, and the toes considerably developed, much 
longer, in fact, than either in Rhipidura or Leuco- 
circa. The middle toe is as long as the tarsus; the 
inner toe much shorter than the outer, but both are 
cleft to their base ; the hinder and inner toes are 
equal ; the legs are very pale, and the tarsal scale 
is in one entire piece ; the breadth and curvature of 
the claws, joined to the relative length of the toes, 
renders it highly probable that this bird does not 
habitually frequent the ground. But its great 
peculiarity lies in the tail, which is moderately 
