BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA, 665 



bh. Larger (wing averaging 124.9 in male, 121.3 in female); color of back, etc., 

 brighter or more greenish olive. CSouthern Mexico to Panama.) 



Megarynchus pitangua mexicanus (p. 665 1 

 aa. Pileum sooty gray or deep mou.se gray; back, etc., decidedly grayisli dlive. (West- 

 ern Mexico.) Megarynchus pitangua caniceps ( p. 667) 



MEGARYNCHUS PITANGUA MEXICANUS (Lafresnaye). 

 BOAT-BILLED FLYCATCHER. 



Adults (sexes alike) ." — Pileum sooty black or ver}^ dark sooty brown 

 (clove brown), the crown with a concealed patch of pure yellow (canary 

 or lemon) , rufous-tawny, or of intermediate color ; hindneck, back, scap- 

 ulars, and rump plain greenish olive, varying to almost olive-green; 

 upper tail-coverts, tail, and wings grayish brown (nearlj^ hair brown), 

 the remiges narrowly edged with paler, these edgings becoming more 

 or less cinnamomeous or rusty on inner primaries and distal sec- 

 ondaries; a broad superciliary stripe of white, the two of opposite 

 sides nearly confluent on nape; a broad stripe or patch of black on 

 side of head, involving whole of loral, orbital, and auricular regions 

 and upper portion of malar region; chin, throat, and lower portion of 

 malar region white; rest of under parts, including axillars and under 

 wing-coverts, pure, bright lemon or canary yellow; bill black, the man- 

 dible usually more brownish basally; iris brown; legs and feet dusky 

 (in dried skins). 



Young. — Essentially like adults but without yellow or tawny on 

 crown, the median portion of pileum often squamated with pale gray- 

 ish buffy; feathers of back, etc., margined with paler; wing-coverts 

 and upper tail-coverts margined with cinnamon, cinnamon-buif, or 

 whitish; rectrices and secondaries broadly edged and terminally 

 margined with cinnamon or cinnamon-bufi", becoming whitish on 

 inner secondaries. 



Tyrannus carnivorus Vieillot, Tabl. Enc. M6th., ii, 1822, 847 (=Lanms pitangva Lin- 

 naeus). — Scaphorhynchus sulphuratus Ma-a^imilian, Beitr. Naturg. Bras., iii, 1831, 983. — 

 Megastoma flaviceps Swainson, Anim. in Menag., 1838, 285 (n. Brazil). — S[caphor- 

 hynchus] Jlaviceps Gray, Gen. Birds, i, 1847, 246. — Megastoma ruficeps Swainson, 

 Anim. in Menag., 1838, 285 (s. Brazil). — S[caphorhynchus] ruficeps Lichtenstein, Syst. 

 Verz., 1844, 49. — Megastoma atriceps Swainson, Anim. in Menag., 1838, 285 (Brazil; 

 =young). — S[caphorhynchus] atriceps Gray, Gen. Birds, i, 1847, 246. — [Tyrannm] 

 magnirostris Swainson, Fauna Bor.-Am., ii, 1831, 484 {=Lanm.s pitangva Linnaeus). — 

 (?) Megarhynchus chrysogaster Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1860. 281, 295 (Baba- 

 hoyo, w. Ecuador; coll. P. L. Sclater). — (?) Megarhynchus pitangua chrysogaster Ber- 

 lepsch and Taczanowski, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1883, 557 (crit.); 1885, 91, 122. 



a If any approximation to general accuracy in the sexing of specimens has been 

 attempted by collectors, it is quite certain that the variation in the color of the con- 

 cealed crown-patch (which may be either pure canary or lemon yellow or rufous-tawny) 

 is not due to difference of sex. It seems to be either a purely individual variation or 

 else due to difference of age. 



