QUERULIN^. 
91 
and thicker: they are all natives of Tropical America, 
and are generally found only in thick forests. Guber- 
netes is the genus by which they appear connected to 
the waterchats, through the medium of Alectura. One 
species only is yet known, the Gubernetes forficatns, 
remarkable for its long forked tail : to this succeeds 
Psaris, where we find nearly all the species coloured 
alike ; that is, they are more or less of a grey or pearl 
white, with black head, wings, and tail : they remind 
us immediately of the gulls, and tlris analogy is one of 
the most beautiful, when worked out, in the whole fa- 
family. The smaller birds of the genus Pachyrynchus 
immediately follow.s Two or three already prepare uc 
for the next division, by the great depression of their 
bills, and the singularly formed red feathers on the 
throat. 
(104.) The singular genus Querula is the type of 
the QuerulintP, or the last subfamily of the flycatchers. 
By some of the Linna;an writers this remarkable bird 
is classed as a Muscicapa ; while by others, even 
among the modems, it is considered an Ampelis. Now, 
both of these opinions may be reconciled, by viewing it 
as it stands in our arrangement — the connecting link 
between these families. All the flycatchers we have 
hitherto noticed, so far as we yet know, feed entirely 
upon insects ; but we have unquestionable testimony* 
that this species live also upon fruits, thus uniting in 
itself the characteristic of the two families which it 
connects. In the bill there is much of the form and 
strength of Psarin, but it is wide and more depressed ; 
while the stiff* bristles at the rictus betrays its insecti- 
vorous habit : the feet are remarkably short for the size 
of the bird, and are calculated only, like those of the 
Ampelidte, for perching. All these characters not 
only point out this genus as of the fissirostral type, 
but perfect the union of the families of Muscicapida 
and Ampelidce. 
• Le VailL Nat. Hist. d’Oiseaux de L’Amerique, p. 14i. 
