544 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



I, 248. Muscicapa carolincnsis fusca, Brisson, Orn. II, 1760, 367. Black-headed 

 Flycatcher, Pennant, Arc. Zool. II, 389, 269. Black-cap Flycatcher, Latham, Sy- 

 nopsis, I, 353. Finpidias fuscus, Caban. M. H. II, Sept. 1859, 69 (type). — ScL. 

 Catal. 1862, 234. Sayornis fuscus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 184. — Samuels, 133. 

 — Allen, B. Fla. 1871, 299. 



Sp. Char. Sides of breast and upper parts dull olive-brown, fading slightly towards 



the tail. Top and sides of head dark brown. 

 A few dull white feathers on the eyelids. 

 Lower parts dull yellowish-white, mixed 

 with brown on the chin, and in some indi- 

 viduals across the breast. Quills brown, the 

 outer primary, secondaries, and tertials 

 edged with dull white. In some individuals 

 the greater coverts faintly edged with dull 

 white. Tail brown ; outer edge of lateral 

 feather dull white ; outer edges of the rest 

 like the back. Tibiae brown. Bill and feet 

 black. Bill slender, edges nearly straight. 

 Tail rather broad and slightly forked. 

 Third quill, longest ; second and fourth 



Sayornis ni^icana. 



nearly equal ; the first shorter than sixth. Length, 7 inches ; wing, 3.42 ; tail, 3.30. 



Hab. Eastern North America ; Eastern Mexico to Mirador and Orizaba. Cuba (Caban. 

 J. IV, I) ; Xalapa, (Scl. List, 234) ; Vera Cruz, winter (Sumiciirast, M. B. S. I, 557) ; 

 San Antonio, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 773, rare). 



In autumn, and occasionally in early spring, the colors are much clearer 

 and brighter. Whole lower parts sometimes bright sulphur-yellow ; above, 

 greenish-olive ; top and sides of the head tinged with sooty. In the young 

 of the year the colors are much duller ; all the wing-coverts broadly tipped 

 with light ferruginous, as also the extreme ends of the wings and tail- 

 feathers. The brown is prevalent on the whole tln-oat and breast ; the hind 

 part of the back, rump, and tail strongly ferruginous. 



Habits. The Pewee, or Phcebe-Bird, a well-known harbinger of early 

 spring, is a common species throughout the whole of eastern North Amer- 

 ica, from the Eio Grande, on the southwest, to the provinces of Nova Scotia 

 and New Brunswick on the northeast, and as far west as the Missouri Eiver. 



Dr. Woodhouse found it common both throughout Texas and in the In- 

 dian Territory. It was taken by Sumichrast in the Department €f Vera 

 Cruz, but he was in doubt whether it occurs there as a resident or is only 

 migratory. It was observed at San Antonio, Texas, but only as a migrant, 

 by both Dresser and Heermann ; but at Houston, in that State, it .evidently 

 remains and breeds, as individuals were seen there in June by Dresser. 

 Specimens were taken in February at Brownsville, Texas, by Lieutenant 

 Couch, and afterwards in March on the opposite side of the river, — in 

 Tamaulipas, Mexico. 



In South Carolina, Dr. Coues found these birds most common in the 

 months of February and March, and again in October and November. He 

 had no doubt that some remain and pass the winter, and that others are 



