TYRANNID^ — THE FLYCATCHERS. 329 



Tyrannus melancholicus, var. couchi, Baird. 



COUCH'S KINGBIRD. 



Tyrannus couchi, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 175, pi. xlix, f. 1. — Scl. Catal. Am. B. 

 1862, 235. 



Sp. Char. Bill long as the head. Feet stout. Five outer primaries abruptly attenuated 

 at the end ; the third and fourth longest ; the first a little longer than the sixth. Tail 

 considerably forked (depth of fork about .30 of an inch, or more). Head, neck, and 

 jugulum bluish-ashy, becoming nearly white on the throat, and shaded with yellow on 

 the breast. Rest of lower parts gamboge-yellow. Rest of upper parts olive-green, 

 tinged with ash anteriorly. Tail and primaries grayish-brown, the tail not the darker. 

 Wing-coverts passing externally into pale, the tertials edged with almost white. Crown 

 with a concealed patch of bright orange-red. Length, 9.00 ; wing, 5.00 ; tail, 4.70. 



Hab, Middle America (both coasts), from southern border of United States, south to 

 Guatemala; Tucson, Arizona (Bendire). 



All specimens of T. melancholicus from regions north of Guatemala are 

 referrible to var. couchi ; all from Costa Eica southward, to melancholicus. 



It is only hy comparing specimens from near the extreme northern and 

 southern limits of the range of the species, that differences are readily dis- 

 cernible ; and between these two extremes there is so gradual a transition that 

 it is impossible to draw a line separating two well-marked varieties, so that it 

 is necessary to assume an arbitrary geographical line, and determine speci- 

 mens from the middle regions by their position, whether to the north or 

 south of the line established. Specimens from Buenos Ayres, the Parana, 

 and Brazil, to Peru and New Granada, are identical. Costa Eica specimens 

 {T. satrapa,, Light.) have the dark tail of var. melancholicus and white throat 

 of couchi. 



Genus MYIARCHUS, Cabanis. 



Myiarchiis, Cabanis, Fauna Peruana, 1841-46, 152. — Burmeister, Thiere Brasiliens, 

 n, Vogel, 1856, 469. 



Gen. Char. Tarsus equal to or not longer than the middle toe, which is decidedly 

 longer than the hinder one. Bill wider at base than half the culmen. Tail broad, long, 

 even, or slightly rounded, about equal to the wings, which scarcely reach the middle of the 

 tail ; the first primary shorter than the sixth. Head with elongated lanceolate distinct 

 feathers. Above brownish-olive, throat ash, belly yellow. Tail and wing feathers varied 

 with rufous. 



This genus is well marked among the American Flycatchers, and consti- 

 tutes what Bonaparte called Ultimi Tyrannorum sive Tyrannularum primce. 

 The type is the Ifuscicapa ferox of Gmelin, (3f. ti/ranmdus,) which, as identi- 

 fied by Cabanis and Burmeister as above, appears to resemble our species 

 very closely. 



For an elaborate discussion of the various forms of this exceedingly diffi- 



voL. II. 42 



