260 Birds of Colorado 



b^ Feet of normal size ; tarsus always longer than the culmen. 

 a- Larger, wing three to four inches ; bill narrow, its width 

 at nostrils barely half the length of culmen. 



Sayomis, p. 266. 



b^ Smaller, wing 2-25 to 3-25 ; bill broad, its width at 



nostrils equal to or exceeding half the length of the 



culmen. Empidonax, p. 272. 



Genus TYRANNUS. 



Moderate-sized birds with wings from four to six inches ; wings 

 with the tips of the outer primaries more or less attenuated ; tail 

 less than three-fourths the length of the wing and never deeply forked ; 

 a concealed crown-patch of yellow or orange in the adults. 



This genus ranges over the whole of temperate and tropical America. 

 Three out of ten described species occur in Colorado as follows : — 



A. Plmnage black, grey and white ; no yellow. T. tyrannus, p. 260. 



B. Abdomen and under tail-coverts canary-yellow. 



a. Outer (tenth) primary about the same length as ninth, longer 



than fifth ; shaft and whole of outer web of outer tail- 

 feathers markedly white below. T. verticalis, p. 262. 



b. Outer (tenth) primary markedly shorter than ninth, also 



shorter than fifth ; outer web of outer tail-feathers paler, 

 and merely edged with white. T. vociferans, p. 263. 



Kingbird. Tyrannus tyrannus. 



A.O.U. Checkhst no 444— Colorado Records— Allen 72, p. 150; 

 Aiken 72, p. 205 ; Trippe 74, p. 236 : Henshaw 75, p. 341 ; Allen & 

 Brewster 83, p. 194 ; Beckham 85, p. 142 ; Morrison 89, p. 146 ; Bendire 

 92, p. 236 ; Lowe 92, p. 101 ; Cooke 97, pp. 19, 87, 209 ; Keyser 02, 

 p. 97 ; Henderson 03, p. 235 ; 09, p. 232 ; Dille 03, p. 74 ; Warren 

 06, p. 21 ; 08, p. 21 ; Gibnan 07, p. 154 ; Rockwell 08, p. 165 ; Gary 

 09, p. 182. 



Description. — Dark slate above, becoming black on the head and tail ; 

 below and edges of the wings and tail white, a grey patch across the 

 chest, a concealed patch of orange-red along the middle of the crown ; 

 tips of the two outer primaries attenuated. Length 8-0 ; wing 4-80 ; 

 tail 3-50 ; tarsas -75 ; culmen -62. 



The female resembles the male, but the orange patch is more re- 

 stricted and the tips of the primaries less attenuated ; the young bird 

 has no crown-patch, and the edges of the wings and tail are brownish. 



Distribution. — Breeding throughout temperate North America from 

 southern British Columbia and Nova Scotia southwards, chiefly east 

 of the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico ; wintering in Cuba, 

 the Bahamas, Central and South America to southern Bolivia. 



