The natural arrangement and relations of the family of flycatchers, or muscicapidae / Illustrated by thirty-three coloured plates, with portrait and memoir of Baron Haller.

  • William Swainson
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural arrangement and relations of the family of flycatchers, or muscicapidae / Illustrated by thirty-three coloured plates, with portrait and memoir of Baron Haller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    most perfectly organized group,—in reference t the true distinctions of that circle to which the belong,—in the whole suh-family. These typici distinctions are seen in the length of their w’ing giving a power of flight not possessed by the Todies their strongly hooked bill, the long and stifl* bristh round the mouth, and their remarkably short, hi not syndactyle feet; their habits are strictly i unison with these characters. They fill the sair station, in short, in their own circle, as the Con rostres do among the Perchers, and w^e henc conclude that they are analogous. If this positio is true, it necessarily follows that the Todies and tl Dentirostres are also analogous; because the affinii between Muscicapa and Todus is just as perfect an unquestionable as that between the Conirostres an the Dentirostres. Whether this analogy is show in a more direct manner by certain habits possesse by both, of which w^e are at present ignorant, is question to be determined hereafter; but >ve ca discover no tangible analogy in their structui which would lead us immediately to conclude thi they mutually represented each other. Passing ( the two next groups brought under comparisoi namely, Megalophus and the Fissisrostres, we ha^ one point of strong resemblance in the feet. T1 toes of the only species of Megapodius yet disc( vered, are much more united than in the typic examples of the two preceding genera, although i crest would seem to give this bird an equal claii to be considered a nisorial type. In determinin]