306 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Family TYRANNID^. — Tyrant Flycatchees. 



Primary Characters. Primaries ten. Bill in typical forms broad, triangular, much 

 depressed, abruptly decurved and notched at tip, with long bristles along gape. Tarsi with 

 scutellie extending round the outer face of tarsus from the front to back ; sometimes 

 divided on the outer side. Bill with culmen nearly as long as the head, or shorter ; 

 straight to near the tip, then suddenly bent down into a conspicuous hook, with a notch 

 behind it ; tip of lower jaw also notched. Commissure straight to near the notch ; gonys 

 slightly convex. Nostrils oval or rounded, in the anterior extremity of the nasal groove, 

 and more or less concealed by long bristles which extend from the posterior angle of the 

 jaws along the base of the bill, becoming smaller, but reaching nearly to the median line 

 of the forehead. These bristles with lateral branches at the base. Similar bristles are 

 mixed in the loral feathers and margin the chin. Tarsi short, generally less than middle 

 toe, completely enveloped by a series of large scales, which meet near the posterior edge 

 of the inner side, and are separated either by naked skin or by a row of small scales. 

 Sometimes a second series of rather large plates is seen on the posterior face of the tarsus, 

 these, however, usually on the upper extremity only. Basal joint of middle toe united 

 almost throughout to that of the outer toe, but more than half fi-ee on the inner side ; 

 outer lateral toe rather the longer. Wings and tail variable ; first quill always more than 

 three fourths the second. The outer primaries sometimes attenuated near the tip. 



The primary characters given above will serve to distinguish the North 

 American Tyrannidoi from their allies ; the essential features consisting in 

 the peculiarity of the scales of the tarsus and the ten primaries. In the 

 Sylvicolidce there are species as truly " flycatching," and with a depressed 

 bristly bill, but the nine (not ten) primaries, and the restriction of the scales 

 to the anterior face of the tarsus, instead of extending entirely round the 

 outer side, will readily separate them. 



The relationships of the Tyrannidm are closest to the Cotingidce. These 

 last differ mainly in having the tarsus more or less reticulated, or covered in 

 part at least witli small angular scales, instead of continuous broad ones ; 

 and in the greater adhesion of the toes. The legs are shorter, and the body 

 broader and more depressed. The bill is less abundantly provided witli 

 bristles, and the species do not appear to be strictly flycatchers, feeding 

 more on berries and on stationary insects and larvae, rather than capturing 

 them on the wing. Two species of this family, Hadrostomus affinis^ and 

 Pachyramjihius major^ were introduced into the Birds of North America, 

 from specimens collected by Lieutenant Couch in the valley of the Eio 



1 Hadrostovius affinis. Flatypsaris affinis, Elliot, Ibis, 1859, 394, pi. xiii. Pachyrainphus 

 aglaice, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 164, pi. xlvii, f. 1. — Ib. Rep. Mex. Bound. II, Birds, 7, 

 pi. xix, f. 1. Hadrostomus aglaioe, Cabanis, Mas. Hein, II, 85 (Xalapa). — Ib. Journ. 1861, 

 252. — ScLATER, p. Z. S. 1864, 176 (City Mex.). Hah. Northern Mexico, Jalapa, Nicaragua 

 (ScL. Catalogue, p. 240) ; Yucatan (Lawrence). 



^ Pachyramphus major. Bathmidurus major. Cab. Orn. Nat. 1847, I, 246. — Cab. et Hein. 

 Mus. Hein. II, 89. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 165, pi. xlvii, f. 2 ?. — Ib. Rep. Mex. Bound, 

 II, Birds, 7, pi. xix, f. 2. Pachijravijihus major, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1857, 78 ; 1864, 176 (City 

 of Max.). Hab. Mexico and Guatemala. 



