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MUSCIPETA, 
of Cuvier, •will be here restricted to the long-tailed 
flycatchers of Africa and India, distinguished, at 
the first glance, by the excessive length of their 
two middle tail-feathers, which are often longer 
than all the rest of the bird together. These beauti- 
ful plumes, however, are only to be found in the 
males during the season of breeding, for at other 
times they have the tail like that of the female, 
that is, simply graduated, or very much rounded. 
It is not to be supposed, however, that Nature 
passes abruptly from such birds as are in the last 
division to these long-tailed flycatchers; and we 
accordingly find, that one species, at least, is desti- 
tute of these feathers at all seasons. Le Vaillant 
describes the long-tailed species as very wild and 
quarrelsome ; but his Gobe-tnouches mantele is such 
a tame and gentle bird, that a pair of them actually 
made a habit of frequenting the inside of liis tent, 
where they took their station on the furniture to 
catch the flies, destitute of all fear on his approach- 
He particularly alludes to this species “ having an 
advantage” over the others in the superior ornament 
of a moveable crest of pointed feathers, which 
extend some way beyond the occiput ; a sort of 
