193 
MUSCICAPA 
is restricted, in this survey, to the genuine or typi- 
cal flycatchers inhabiting the old world, and who 
never pursue their prey. From this hahit we may 
term them the sedentary flycatchers, in contra-dis- 
tinction to the hunting and the cursorial races, re- 
presented by the todies, the fantails, and the 
water-chats. Their distinguishing characters have 
already been intimated, but we shall now shortly 
recapitulate them : they are so few and simple, that 
if duly regarded, there will be no great danger of 
this genus being made, as it now stands in systems, 
a sort of general receptacle for all birds with flat 
bills, whose affinities cannot at the moment be made 
out. The sedentary flycatchers of the Old World are 
to be known by the prominent and leading peculia- 
rities derived from their wings, feet, and bill : and 
although there are a few instances of other types 
possessing one of these characters, and although one 
out of the three may be wanting in the aberrant 
divisions of this very group, yet the average of 
variation does not extend further*. When, there- 
* Some species of Tyrannula have the syndactyle feet of 
Muscicapa , some the even tail, and others come very near in 
their wings, but nothing more. Ptiliogonys and the CulicivorcB 
have the graduated wings, but none of the other characters. 
N 
