TYRANNIDM—TYRANNIN^: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 433 



edging of the wings and tail. Length about 8.00; extent 14.50; wing 4.50; tail 3.50, 

 even or slightly rounded ; bill small, under an inch long. Temperate N. Am., but chiefly 

 E. U. S. to -Rocky Mts. ; rare or casuiil on the Pacific slope ; abundant in summer ; breeds 

 throughout its range ; winters on the southern border and 

 beyond. This trim and shapely " martinet," in severe 

 black and white but with fiery pompon, is familiar to all, 

 and equally noted for its irritability, pugnacity, and intre- 

 )>idity, and its inveterate enmity to crows, hawks, and owls, 

 which it does not hesitate to attack, either in defence <jf its 

 nest or just to show its spunk. Nest a conspicuous object 

 in the orchard or by the wayside, on the horizontal bough 

 of a tree, large, cupped, compactly woven and matted with 

 fibrous and disintegrated vegetable substances; eggs usu- 

 ally 4-5-6, 0.90 to 1.00 long by 0.72 broad, white, rosy, or 

 creamy, variously spotted or blotched in bold pattern with 

 reddish and darker brown surface-spots and lilac sheU- 

 markings. Destroys a thousand noxious insects for every Fig. 283.— Kiiig-bird, reduced. (From 

 bee it eats ! Tenney, after Wilson.) 



T. dominicen'sis. (Of St. Domingo.) Gray King-bird. $ 9 , adult : Five or six outer 

 [)rimaries usually emarginate. Crown-spot as before. Grayish-plumbeous, rather darker on 

 head, the auriculars dusky. Below, white, shaded with ashy on breast and sides, the under 

 wing- and tail-coverts faintly yellowish ; wings and tail dusky, edged with whitish or yel- 

 lowish ; the tail-feathers merely indistinctly lighter at the extreme tip. Larger than the last : 

 Length about 9.00; wing 5.50 ; tail nearly 5.00, more or less emarginate; bill very turgid, an 

 inch long. West Indies ; Florida regularly ; N. to Carolina rarely, to Massachusetts acci- 

 dentally. General appearance, habits and nesting of the king-bird. 



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

 Fig. 278. J Arkansas Tyrant Flycatcher. Several outer primaries gradually attenuated 

 for a long distance (fig. 279, c). Coloration olivaceous and yeUow ; belly and under wing- 

 and tail-coverts clear yellow ; back ashy-olive, changing to clear ash on the head, throat, and 

 breast, the chin whitening, the 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 the fore parts pale, contrasting with dusky lores and auric- 

 ulars, fading insensibly into white on the chin, and changing gradually to yellow on the 

 belly ; olive predominating over ashy on the 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 the 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., abundant; accidental in Louisiana, New Jersey, 

 and Maine ; E. regularly to Kansas, Iowa, etc., N. to British Provinces in Missouri and Milk 

 River region and westward. General traits those of the king-bird ; nest similar, rather 

 larger, with more fluffy and less fibrous material ; eggs not distinguishable with certainty. 

 T. voci'ferans. (Lat. vociferans, vociferous, voice-bearing ; vox, voice, and fero, I bear.) 

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

 distance (fig. 279, d). Outer web of outer tail-feather barely or not edged with whitish. General 

 coloration as in T. verticalis; but ash of fore parts dark, little different on the lores and auricu- 

 lars, changing rather abruptly to white on the chin and to yellow on the belly ; ashy predomi- 

 nating over olive on the back. The diff'erence is decisive on comparison. The outer primaries 

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



