460 Mr. R. Ridgway on Empidochanes fuscatus ^c. 



colour of the wing-bands is almost exactly the same. The 

 yellow of the lower parts^ however, is not quite so deep, the 

 breast is a decidedly more greenish olive, and the under- 

 wiug-coverts much paler yellow. 



XLII. — On Empidochanes fuscatus [Max) and Empidonax 

 brunneus, Ridgw. By Robert Ridgway. 



Empidonax brunneus was first described in the ' History of 

 North-American Birds,' vol. ii. (1874), p. 363, and was based 

 on a specimen collected by Captain T. J. Page, U.S.N., during 

 his exploration of the Parana in 1850. In addition to the 

 type (No. 20970, U. S. Nat. Mus., orig. no. 54, Parana, 

 March 1850), the collection of the United States National 

 Museum contains another specimen (No. 23981), but the 

 exact locality of the latter is unknown. 



It has usually been considered (although I cannot find 

 that such an opinion has been published) that Empidonax 

 brunneus was merely Empidochanes fuscatus (Max.), rede- 

 scribed ; but that this is not the case I am now able to de- 

 monstrate, having had the opportunity, through the courtesy 

 of the Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History 

 in New York city, of examining the types of Muscipeta fus- 

 cc^fl,Max. (still existing in the Maximilian collection, for some 

 years the property of that Institution), and of comparing 

 them with the two specimens of Empidonax brunneus. 



The differences between the two birds are very marked, 

 involving, as they do, not merely the specific but also the 

 generic characters. In coloration they present a rather close 

 superficial resemblance to one another ; but E. brunneus has 

 the under mandible wholly light-coloured, the upper parts 

 decidedly more olivaceous, and the wing-bands paler and less 

 ochraceous. 



The genus Empidochanes differs from Empidonax mainly in 

 the much less depressed and relatively longer and narrower 

 bill, longer and decidedly rounded tail, and stouter feet. All 

 these characters are shared about equally by the three very 



