TYRANNIDuE—TYRANNIN.E: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 515 



even been found astray in British Columbia ! General appearance, habits, and nesting of the 

 Kingbird; eggs indistinguishable, averaging a triiie larger, 1.00 X 0.73, 3 or 4 in number, 

 sometimes 5, in the U. S. laid in May and June, but much earlier in the West Indies. 

 T. vertica'lis. (Lat. verticalis, relating to the vertex, or top of head, which has a flame-patch. 

 Fig. 342.) Arkansas Tyrant Flycatcher. Western Kingbird. Several outer pri- 

 maries gradually attenuated for a long distance (fig. 343, c). Adult J' 9 : Coloration oliva- 

 ceous and yellow; belly and under wing- and tail-coverts clear yellow; back ashy-olive, 

 changing to clear ash on head, throat, and breast, chin whitening, lores and auriculars dusky ; 

 wings dark brown with whitish edging; tail black or blackish ; bill and feet black ; iris brown. 

 Outer web of outer tail-feather entirely white. Ash of fore parts pale, contrasting with dusky 

 Inres and auriculars, fading insensibly into white on chin, and changing gradually to yellow on 

 belly ; olive predominating over ashy on back. Length about 9.00; extent about 16.50; wing 

 5.00; tail 4.00; bill 0.75; tarsus 0.75. Young: Similar; general ash of body dull, with a 

 brownish cast ; little or no olivaceous on back ; tail not quite black ; yellow of under parts pale 

 and sulphury, even whitish ; bill light-colored at base below ; no color on crown, and primaries 

 scarcely or not attenuate. Very young with rusty edgings, especially on wing- and tail-coverts. 

 Western U. S. and adjoining British Provinces, from the Great Plains to the Pacific, abundant; 

 accidental in Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Maine ; E. regularly to Kansas, 

 Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota ; N. to British Provinces in the Mouse and Milk Kiver regions 

 and westward; S. in winter in Lower California, Mexico, and Guatemala; migratory; breeds 

 throughout its U. S. and Brit. Am. range, but winters nearly or quite extraliinital. General 

 traits those of the King-bird; nest similar, rather larger, with more fluffy and less fibrous ma- 

 terial, but very variable in size, shape, make, and position, usually in a tree; eggs 3-5, usually 

 4, not distinguishable with certainty from those of the common Kingbird, averaging a trifle 

 smaller, under 0.95 X 0.70.. 



T. voci'ferans. (Lat. vodferans, vociferous, voice-bearing; rox, voice, and /ero, I bear.) 

 Cassin's Tyrant Flycatcher. Several outer primaries abruptly emarginate for a short 

 distance (fig. 343, d). Adult $ 9= Outer web of outer tail-feather barely or not edged with 

 whitish. General coloration as in verticalis; but ash of fore parts dark, little different on lores 

 and auriculars, changing rather abruptly to white on chin and to yellow on belly ; ashy pre- 

 dominating over olive on back. The difference is decisive on comparison. The outer prima- 

 ries are abruptly nicked and narrowed within half an inch of the end. The mere edging of the 

 outer tail-feather with white instead of the whole web being white is also a good character. 

 Changes of plumage the same as in verticalis; size the same; bill rather stouter, about 0.85; 

 tarsus slightly longer, on an average. Southwestern U. S., and southward to Guatemala; N. 

 to Wyoming and Idaho, even to Oreg(m ; abundant in the S. Rocky Mt. region, there mostly 

 replacing verticalis in the breeding season, and also on the Pacific slopes in California, but rare 

 in the Great Basin ; breeds throughout its U. S. range, and resident in some parts. Nesting 

 and eggs like those of the foregoing ; nest usually on horizontal bough of a tree at considerable 

 height, bulky, rather flattish, about 8.00 across outside by 3 deep, with a cup 3.50 X 2.00; 

 eggs 2-5, usually 3 or 4, indistinguishable from those of other Tyrants, averaging 0.95 by 0.70, 

 mostly laid in June, but sometimes earlier. 



T. melancho'licus couch'i. (Gr. iiiKayxoKiKoi, melagcholikos, Lat. melancholicus, melan- 

 clioly, i. e., atrabilious; /le'Xa?, fiiXavos, melas, melanos, black; x^°^' cholos, gall, bile. To 

 Lieut. D. N. Couch.) Couch's Tyrant Flycatcher. Very similar to the last; primaries 

 abruptly emarginate for a short distance, as in vodferans, and outer web of outer tail-feather 

 not white; but tail dark brown, like wings, and obviously forked (about 0.50; in vodferans 

 tail quite black, slightly emarginate or nearly even); all its feathers with slight pale edges, 

 and their shafts pale on under surface. Yellow of under parts very bright, reaching liigh up 

 on breast ; throat as well as chin extensively white. Size of the foregoing, and changes of 



