162 



KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



ashy throat and breast ; two yellowish wing bars. This is a 

 common woodland bird of quarrelsome nature, with a loud, 

 piercing voice. It is noted for the habit of using snake skins 

 in the structure of its nest. (Great<'rested Flycatcher.) 



Length, 8| ; wing, 4 (3|-4|) ; tail, .3; ; tarsus, \ ; culnien, J. Eastern 

 United States and southern Canada west to the Plains ; breeding from 

 Florida northward, and wintering south of the United States from Mexico 

 to Central America. The Mexican Crested Flycatcher (453. Myi&rchus 

 mexicanus), of southern Texas to Central America, differs from the last 

 in having a broad dusky stripe on the inner web along the shaft of the 

 outer tail feathers. 



6. Phoebe (Ai^iS. Scvidrnis phoibe). — A common, crested, dull 

 (iliv('-l)i()wii l)ird, having the lower parts dull white, with the 

 breast tinged with brownish-gray. The head 

 is darker, almost blackish, the belly has a 

 very slight tint of yellow, and the eye 

 has a whitish ring around it. The name is 

 derived from the sound of its note, which 

 is uttered in a harsh and abrupt manner. 

 (Pewee.) 



Length, 7; wing, 32 (3J-31) ; tail, 3; tarsus, J; 

 eulmen, \. Eastern North America from Colorado 

 and Texas eastward ; breeding from South Carolina 

 northward, and wintering from the South Atlantic 

 and (iulf States to Cuba and eastern Mexico. 



7. Say's Phoebe (457. Saybrnis shya). — A 

 western, grayisli-brown bird, with the lower 

 parts cinnamon-brown, darker on the throat. 

 The tail, bill, and feet are black, and the wing 



bars whitish. This is a flycatcher of weedy and shrubby 



places rather than of wooded regions. 



Length, 7.1 ; wing, 4 (3J-4J) ; tail, 31 ; tarsus, | ; culmen, \. Western 

 United States from the Plains to the Pacific, north to the Arctic Circle, 

 south to Central America. Accidental in Mas.sachu.setts. 



8. Black Phoebe (458. Saybrnis nfyricans). — A very dark, 

 almost black, Texas bird, with the belly abruptly pure white. 

 The head and breast are the blackest portions; the bill and 



Phcc: 



