BIRDS — TYRANMNAE — CONTOPUS RICIIARDSONII. 



189 



List of specimens. 



CONTOPUS RICIIARDSONII, Baird. ' 



Short-legged Pewee. 



Tt/ranniifo richardsonii, Swaikson, F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, I4G ; plate. 



Muscicapa richardsonii, Aitd. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 299 ; pi. 434. 



Tyrannula phoebt, Bon. List. 1838, 24. 



.Vuscicapaphoebe, Audcbon, Synopsis, 1839, 42. — Ib. Birds America, I, 1840, 219 ; pi. 61, (not of Latham.) 



Tyrannusphoebe, Ncttall, Man. I, 2(1 ed. 1840, 319. 



Tyrannus atriceps, D'Orbigmt, (fide G. R. Gray.) 



Sp. Ch.— General appearance of C. virens. Bill broad. Winga very long and much pointed ; considerably e.-cceeding the 

 tail ; second quill longest ; third a Httle shorter ; first shorter than fourth, and about midway between distance from second to 

 fifth, (.60 of an inch.) Primaries 1.20 inches longer than secondaries. Tail moderately forked. Above dark olive brown 

 (the head darker) the entire breast and sides of head, neck, and body of a paler shade of the same, tinging strongly also the 

 dull whitisli throat and chin. Abdomen and under tail coverts dirty pale yellowish. Quills and tail dark blackish brown ; the 

 secondaries narrowly, the tertials more broadly edged with whitish. Two quite indistinct bands of brownish white across the 

 wings. Lower mandible yellow ; the tip brown. Length, G.20 ; wing, 3.65 ; tail, 3.10. 



Hab.—lhgh central dry plains to the Pacific ; Rio Grande valley, southward to Mexico ; Labrador, (Audubon.) 



This species has a very close relationship to C. virens, agreeing with it in general shape of 

 ■wings and in color. The wings are, however, still longer and more pointed ; the primaries ex- 

 ceeding the secondaries hy nearly 1.25 inches. The proportions of the quills are nearly the 

 same in both ; the primaries too are similarly a little emarginated or attenuated towards the 

 end. The tail is rather more deeply forked ; the feathers broader. The bills are similar ■ the 

 feet are larger and stouter. 



The general colors are almost precisely the same. The outer primary, however, lacks the 

 decidedly white margin. The under parts are much darker anteriorly, the entire breast being 

 nearly a uniform olive brown ; but little paler than the back ; the throat, too, in some speci- 

 mens, being scarcely paler. There is little or none of the pale sulphur yellow of O. virens on the 

 abdomen, and the under wing coverts and axillaries are much darker olivaceous. In C. virens 

 the middle lino of the breast is always paler than the sides, or at least the connecting space is 

 short. 



The lower mandible is generally yellow ; in a few specimens, however, it is quite dusky 

 especially on its terminal half. 



The young bird has the darker head and broader light edgings, with the ferruginous tino'e 

 usually seen in young of the Tyrannulas. 



This appears to be the species figured by Audubon as Muscicapa richardsonii, based probably 

 on Rocky mountain or Columbia river specimens received from Mr. Townsend, (No. 962 2042 

 &c.) The T. richardsonii of Swainson, however, differs in the proportions of the wings, &c. 



