BIRDS — TYRANNINAE — MYIARCHUS MEXICANUS. 



179 



lAst of specimens. 



MYIARCHUS MEXICANUS, Baird, 



Ash-throated Flycatcher 



Tyrannula mexicana, Kaup, Pr. Zool. Soc. Feb. 1851, 51. 



Tyrannula cinerascens, Lawrence, Annals N. Y. Lye. N. Hist. V, Sept. 1851, 109. 



Sp. Ch. — Bill black, the width opposite the nostrils not half the length of culmen. Head crested. Tail even, the lateral 

 feathers slightly shorter. Secend, third, and fourth quills longest ; first rather shorter than the seventh. Above dull greyish 

 olive ; the centres of the feathers rather darker ; the crown, rutnp, and upper tail coverts tinged with brownish. The forehead 

 and sides of the head and neck grayish ash ; the chin, throat, and fore part of the breast ashy white ; the middle of the breast 

 white ; the rest o( th:; under parts very pale sulphur yellow ; wings and tail brown. Two bands across the wing, with outer 

 edges of secondaries and terlials dull white ; the outer edges of the primaries light chestnut brown (except towards the tip and 

 on the outer feather ;) the inner edges tinged with the same. Whole of middle tail feathers, with the outer webs (only) apd 

 the ends of the others brown ; the rest of the inner webs reddish chestnut, the outer web of exterior feather yellowish white. 

 Legs and bill black ; lower mandible brownish at the base. Length about 8 inches ; wing, 4 : tail, 4.10 ; tarsus, .90. 



Hab. — Coast of California, and across by valley of Gila and Rio Grande to northeastern Mexico. Seen as far north in Texas 

 as San Antonio. 



In a young specimen the crown is more tinged with brown ; the upper tail coverts and the 

 middle tail feathers are chestnut, and, in fact, all the tail feathers are of this color, except along 

 both sides of the shaft on the central feathers, and along its outer side in the lateral ones. 



The relationships of this species are clearly with M. crinitus, although the differences are 

 readily appreciable. The size is much the same ; the bill narrower and blacker ; the tarsi much 

 longer ; the wings not so much pointed. The colors of the upper parts are quite the same ; 

 beneath, however, the throat and middle of the fore breast are nearly white (quite white behind) 

 instead of ash, and the sulphur yellow of the remaining under parts is exceedingly pale, instead 

 of very intense. The wings are similar, but the chestnut brown of the inner web is deeper and 

 more abruptly defined in crinitus. In the lateral tail feathers of mexicanus the brown does 

 not cross the shaft from the outer webs, but is continued rather broadly round the tips ; while 

 in the other the inner side of the shaft is bordered by brown, but the inner web is chesnut to 

 the extreme end. 



This species is but briefly described by Kaup, as quoted above, still his comparisons of size, 

 &c., with its allies leave no doubt as to the identity with Tyrannula cinerascens of Lawrence. A 

 Mexican specimen is a little larger than usual, but otherwise the same. 



