to typify the plain-coloured, lineated Thamnophila, and the grey Oa/pteri;
while the latter are decked in the lively colours of the African Malaconoti and of
the genus Analcipus. Close to Phanicornis may be placed Ptiliogonys, as opening
a passage to the next division, or as comprised within its limits. Qxynotus is
another and a very peculiar type ; to which we may liken Sphecotheres, from the
structure of the bill, the wings, and the tarsi. But the want of the puffy, spinous
tail feathers in this latter bird removes it, we think, from this family. M. Cuvier
has arranged the larger species of Ceblepyrini under the generic name of Grau-
calis; but we have failed in discovering their supposed peculiarities. It is easy
to perceive that, by the recent discovery of the Mexican genus Ptiliogonys (Sw.),’
the transition from the Caterpillar-catchers to the sub-family
TYRANNINjE
is rendered apparent, particularly when we compare Ptiliogonys cinereas*, Sw.,
with the Muscicapa albicapilla of Vieillot, and some other obscurely-known species,
wherein the head is crested, the nostrils nearly round, the rictus but slightly
bearded, and the bill short, triangular, and rather compressed on the sides.
We now fairly enter among the American Fly-catchers, of which the whole of
this sub-family is entirely and exclusively composed. We have already done
something towards the right understanding of the more typical species f ; but, as
the entire group requires much elucidation, we shall now enumerate its distinguishing
characters, as opposed to the whole of the Fly-catchers belonging to the
Old World. The feet of the Tyranninm, however diversified the species may be
in size or in other points of structure, are always much stronger than those of the
genuine Muscicapa, not as regards the length of the tarsi, for in both this part is
invariably short, but in respect to the length and thickness of the toes and claws;
the latter, in particular, are large, gracile, and very acute, much resembling those
of the true Shrikes. In the typical species (as T. intrepidus, crassirostris, cru-
delis, &c.), the hind and the middle claw are nearly equal; but in the lesser
species, or those most liable to be confounded with the Old World Muscicap®,
(as Tyrannula Saya, mmdola, &c.,) the hind claw is by much the largest. A
further distinction is afforded between these groups by the scutellation of the tarsi.
The scales of the Tyrannina, as if intended to give greater strength and support
to the muscles of the feet, wrap completely round the tarsi, and only meet at the
• Zoological Illustrations, Second Series, pi. 62. t Journal of the Royal Institution.
back part; so that, in fact, the lateral scales so conspicuous in Muscicapa are
entirely wanting among the Tyrant Fly-catchers. Then, as to the structure of
those members employed in flight. The arrangement of the primary quills in this
group is very peculiar • the wings are so far pointed, that the first and second
quills are very little shorter than the third and fourth, which always exceed the
others; sometimes, indeed, (as in T . intrepidus, vociferans, and crudelisi) the
wings are so admirably adapted for rapid flight, that the second quill is as long as
any of the others, and the first very slightly shorter; while even among the
smallest Tyrannula the first quill is invariably more than three-fourths the length
of the longest. Now, upon looking to the Fly-catchers of the Old World, we
see an arrangement strikingly different: the first quill is invariably spurious, that
is, so short as to appear but half developed ; the second and third are progressively
graduated ; and the full length of the wing is only attained by the fourth
and fifth quills. Hence these members, however lengthened they may be in particular
species, assume a rounded form, and betray a decided inferiority in the
power of flight to that which is possessed by the American Fly-catchers. Even
in the well-known Muscicapa atricapilla of Southern Europe, whose wings are
certainly longer and more pointed than any of its congeners, the first quill is very
small. As connected also with the most important economy of those groups
which feed upon the wing, and consequently depend for subsistence on their flight,
the tail deserves great attention : and here, likewise, we may detect a strong
characteristic of the Tyrannina, by which they are detached from all others of
similar manners. There is a peculiar breadth in the caudal feathers of all the
species, particularly towards their extremity ; and although this member is either
forked, divaricated, or square, we have never met with one species wherein the
tail is rounded*. Now, among the Old World Muscicapa the very reverse of
this structure is most prevalent: the tail, if not narrower, is scarcely ever divaricated,
never forked, and very rarely perfectly square at its extremity. Even in
the Muscicapa (Seisurd) volitans of New Holland, which bird has been expressly
stated to have an even tail -f, we find this member, in three specimens now upon
our table, decidedly rounded. There are, nevertheless, some few species of true
Muscicapa where the tail is really even ; and such exceptions, however rare,
render this distinction of less value than that furnished by the wings and tarsi.
* The Rufous Tyrants, formerly referred by us. to this sub-family, have a rounded tail; but we have since placed
them with the Myotherina, under the generic name of Dasycephala.
+ “ The genus Sefsura is, however, sufficiently distinguished from Ripidura by the tail being even, not rounded, at
the end.”—Horsfield and Vigors, Linn. Trans., vo\. xv., p. 250.