MY1AGRA. 
209 
claws deep black, while the anterior scales are 
divided into irregular hexagons, analogous to what 
we see among the gallinaceous birds. The whole 
aspect of this bird suggests the idea of a swallow 
flycatcher ; yet it obviously combines just as many 
characters of the rasorial as of the fissirostral type. 
Its thick compact form, large head, short feet and 
tail, long wings, and glossy plumage, remind us of 
a swallow ; while the stout tarsi, their hexagonal 
scales, and the long pointed crest, are so many in- 
dications of the rasorial type : for reasons which 
will presently appear, we shall view it in the latter 
light*. The fifth type of form we have not yet 
seen ; it should intervene between this bird and 
M. longicauda , and represent the tenuirostral form. 
Hitherto, out of the numerous species that have 
passed under our inspection, there has been no one 
which will completely answer our expectations on 
this head, or against which some objections cannot 
be raised. When the extreme delicacy, however, 
of the analysis we are now making is considered, it 
can excite no surprise, that in the present state of 
ornithological knowledge, we are unprepared to 
close the circle of a sub-genus, or that we should 
be ignorant of one part of the succession of its 
species. Before proceeding to generalize these ob- 
servations, rve shall first describe one of the species 
above alluded to, namely, the Myiagra longicauda. 
Myiagra Jlavipcsi Nob. 
