208 
MYIAGRA. 
which we shall presently describe and figure, 
namely, the Myiagra longicauda. It is entirely 
blue, and has the graduated tail of Bhipidura and 
its prototypes ; the bill, however, is unusually broad, 
and somewhat dilated at the base, while the bristles 
are so long as almost to reach — like those in the fan- 
tailed flycatchers — to the end of the bill. By this 
form we are prepared for the second, as seen in 
Myiagra latirostris, where the tail is shorter, and, 
although not graduated like the last, is yet decidedly 
rounded ; while the bill is so short and broad, as 
immediately to remind us of the genus Todus, or 
rather of its sub-genus Platyrhynchm. The breadth 
of the bill lessens, and its length increases, in the 
Myiagra ccerulia and torquata ; and in the same 
proportion does the tail loose its roundness, until we 
come to M. rubiculoides and Plumbed ( H. and V. J, 
both of which have the tail-feathers completely even, 
and the wings, as already observed, more pointed. 
The fourth type of form is very remarkable ; it is ex- 
hibited in a species from Africa in the Paris Museum. 
The head and bill is unusually large, while the 
crown is surmounted by a conspicuous pointed 
crest ; the wings are lengthened, and the tail so 
short as hardly to project beyond them. Still more 
remarkable are the feet, which, although rather 
stout, are so excessively small, that the tarsus only 
measures four-tenths of an inch, being the exact 
jength of the hind toe and claws : contrary, also, to 
any example yet known in the whole of this sub- 
family, the feet are of a beautiful yellow, with the 
