MYADfeSTES. 
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lengthened and slightly graduated, having some- 
thing of the size and form of Leucocirca, excepting 
that the feathers, instead of being broad, are rather 
narrow, with the tips acuminated. 
Such are the characters of the bird before us. It 
is at once distinguished from our sub-genus Musci- 
capa (as subsequently defined) by its long toes and 
lengthened graduated bill ; and from Leucocirca, 
by its small slightly bristled bill, and those other 
indications which unite it to the genuine flycatchers : 
the whole structure of the bird, particularly in the 
head, which is thick like that of the robin, is quite 
opposed to that slenderness of shape so general 
among its congeners. Lastly, although not one of 
the least of its characteristic marks, is the pure 
white which ornaments the ends of the three pair 
of lateral tail-feathers. Laying all these particulars 
together, we view this bird as the rasorial represen- 
tative of the fan-tailed flycatchers : its unusually 
long toes, its attenuated tail and quill-feathers, and 
its almost smooth rictus, are all so many indications 
of the type it represents, setting aside the deve- 
lopement of the tail, because that is the character- 
istic of the entire group of which this type forms 
but a part. 
