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Show 44 ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF 'filE BEAGLE. the ombu, which is planted in front of many of the farm houses, and thence takes short flights in pursuit of insects. From the remarkable structure of its tail, the inhabitants of the country call it scissor-tail ; a name very well applied from the manner in which it opens and shuts the forked feathers of its tail. Like all birds thus constructed, (of which the frigate bird offers a most striking example), it has the power of turning very shortly in its flight, at which instant it opens and shuts its tail, sometimes, as it appears, in a horizontal and sometimes in a vertical plane. When on the wing it presents in its general appearance a caricature likeness of the common house swallow (Hi1·undo rustica). The Muscivora, although unquestionably belonging to the family of Muscicapidre manifests in its habits an evident relationship with birds of the fissirostral structure. Sun-GEN. PYROCEPHALUS, GouLD. MusciCAPA. Auct. MuscrPETA. Cuv. TvnANNULA. Swain. Rostrum capite brevius, 1·ectum, depresswn, basi setis mtrnerosis nigris obsessum; mandibula sttperiore emarginatd, injeriore1n obtegente; naribus 1·otundatis patu,lis. Caput subcristatwn. Alt:e longt:e; 1'emige prima secundum tertiarnque longissimas srtbfPquales fere (J!quante. Tarsi medivcres, ant ice scutellati; digitis lateralibttS in(J!qualibus, exteriore longiore. Cauda mediocris quadrata. Mr. Gould observes, that "the males of nearly all the members of this group (which may be considered either as a distinct genus or sub-genus of Myiobius), have the crown of the head and greater part of the under surface scarlet. Four species were obtained.-Pyrocepltalus pa1·virost1·is, (Gould), and Muscicapa co1·onata, ( Auct.), may be taken as types. 1. PYROCEPHALUS PARVIROSTRIS. Gould. Plate VI. Lo Churrinche, Azara. No. 177. P. suprafuscus; capite et subltts nitide pttniceis; 1·ectricibus exterioribus tectricurnque et secltndariontm apicibus griseo-marginatis. Long. tot. 5-fi unc.; akr, 13-fr; cauda•, 2-fi; tat·si, -h; rost . .f>t. Crown of the head, crest, and all the under surface, bright scarlet; the remainder |
