340 XORTll AMERICAN" BIKU.S. 



has a longer tarsus and a cliflox-nt style of coloration. The species are dis- 

 tinguished as follows : — 



S. nigricans. Sooty black; abdomen ami edge of outer web of lateral 

 tail-leather pure white. 



a. Lower tail-coverts pure white. 



Greater wing-coverts paler toward tips of outer webs. Wing, 

 3.60; tail, 3.4.5. Hab. Pacific Province, United States, and Mex- 

 ico . . . . . . . . . . va.T. ni g ricnns. 



b. Lower tail-coverts blackish. 



Greater coverts not appreciably paler at end.*. ^Ving, 3.35 ; tail, 

 3.30. Hab. Middle America, north of Panama . var. aqjcaticus} 



Both rows of wing-coverts distinctly tipped with white ; white 



edgings of secondaries very conspicuous. Wing, 3.35; tail, 3.30. 



Ilah. New Granada; Venezuela . . . var. cin erase ens? 



S. fuscus. Grayish-olive above, and on sides of breast; beneath (including 



throat) white, tinged with sulphur-yellow. Wing, 3.40 ; tail, 3.20. Hab. 



Eastern Province United States ; Eastern Mexico. 



S. sayus. Brownish-ashy, the tail and upper tail-coverts black ; abdomen 

 and cri.isum deep ochraceous. Hab. Western Province of United States, 

 and whole of Mexico. 



/» 



Sayornis nigricans, F.nxAr. „ 



S ■■'- 



BLACK PEWEE. 



Ttjramiula nigricans, Swainson", Syn. Birds Mex. Taylor's Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 367. — 

 Newberkt, Zoul. Cal. k Or. Route, Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, iv, 1857, 81. Miisdcapa 

 nigricans, AuD. Om. Biog. V, 1839, 302, pi. cccclxxiv. — Ib. Birds Am. I, 1840, 

 218, pi. Ix. Tyrannus nigricans, NuTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 326. Jfijiobius 

 nigricans, Gray. Myiarchxi^ nigricans, Cabanis, Tschudi Fauna Peruan. 1844 - 46, 

 153 (Pera). Sayornis nigricans, Boxap. Comptes Rendus XXVIII, 1854, notes Orn. 

 87. — Bairu, Birds N.Am. 1858, 183. — Heerm. X, S, 38. —Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 

 1870, 319. Aulanax nigricans, C.-iBANis, Cab. Joum. fur Ornith. IV, Jan. 1856, 2 

 (tj-pe of genus). — Ib. M. H. II, 68. Muscicapa scmialra. Vigors, Zool. Beecliey 

 Voy. 1839, 17. 



' Sayornis nigricaiis, var. aqunticiis. Sayornis aqicalicu^, Sclater & S.\lvin', Ibi*, 1859, 

 p. 119 (Guatemala). 



'^ Sayornis nigricans, var. ciueracens. Sayornis cineracca, Lafr. Rev. Zobl. 1848, p. 8. — 

 ScL. Catal. Am. Birds, 1862, 200. The above races are clearly shown to he merely modifications, 

 with latitude, ofonetj'pe, by the series of specimens before us. Thus, specimens of S. nigri- 

 cans from Orizaba show more or less dusky on the lower tail-coverts, wliile in more northern 

 specimens (i. e. typical var. nigricans) there is not a trace of it. Tyjiical specunens of uquaticus, 

 from Guatemala, show merely a more advanced melanism, the lighter markings ou the wings 

 becoming greatly restricted ; there is still, however, a decided presence of white on the lower 

 tail-coverts. Specimens from Costa Rica (typical aqtuitictis) exhibit the maxinnim degree of 

 melanism, the white beneath being confined to a central spot on the abdomen. In cincraccus 

 (from Xew Granada) the white beneath is similarly restricted, but on the wings is very con- 

 spicuous, showing a revereion back to the character of nigricans, though surpassing the latter 

 in the amount of white on the coverts and secondaries. 



The S. lalirostris (Aulanax I. Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. ii, p. 68 ; Sayornis 1. ScL. Cat. Am. 

 B. 1862, 200), from Ecuador, wc have not seen. It Is probably also refenible to the same type. 



