360 NORTH AMEBIC AN BIRDS. 



Contopus virens, var. richardsoni, Baird. 



SHORT-LEGGED PEWEE ; WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. 



Tyrannula richardsoni, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. 11, 1831, 146, plate. Muscicapa richard- 

 soni, AuD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 299, pi. ccccxxxiv. I'yrannula phcebe, Bon. List, 

 1838, 24. Muscicapa phwbe, Audubon, Synopsis, 1839, 42. — 1b. Birds Am. I, 1840, 

 219, pi. Ixi (not of Latham). Tyrannies phcebe, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 

 319. Tyrannus atriceps, D'Orbigny (fide G. R. Gray). Contopus richardsoni, Baird, 

 Birds N. Am. 1858, 189. — Sclater, Catal. 1862, 231. — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 

 325. Contopus sordidulus, Sclater, Catal. 1862, 231. Contopus plebeiios, (Caban.) 

 Sclater, Cat. 1862, 231. Contojms bogotcnsis, (Bonar.) Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 459. 

 {Tyrannula b. Bonap. Conip. Rend. p. 196.) 



Sp. Char. G-eneral appearance of C virens. Bill broad. Wings very long and much 

 pointed, considerably exceeding the tail ; second quill longest ; third a little shorter ; first 

 shorter than fourth, and about midway between distance from second to fifth (.60 of 

 an inch). Primaries 1.20 inches longer than secondaries. Tail moderately forked. 

 Above dark olive-brown (the head darker) ; the entire breast and sides of head, neck, 

 and body of a paler shade of the same, tingeing strongly also the dull whitish throat and 

 chin. Abdomen and under tail-coverts dirty pale-yellowish. Quills and tail dark 

 blackish-brown ; the secondaries narrowly, the tertials more broadly edged with whitish. 

 Tvs^o quite indistinct bands of brownish- white across the wings. Lower mandible yellow ; 

 the tip brown. Length, 6.20 ; wing, 3.65; tail, 3.10. 



Hab, High central dry plains to the Pacific ; Rio Grande Valley, southward to Mexico ; 

 Labrador (Audubon). Localities : Orizaba, Guatemala, Coban (Scl. Catal. 1862, 231) ; 

 Costa Rica (Lawr. IX, 115) ; Matamoras, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 474, breeds); San 

 Antonio, Texas (Dresser, one spec.) ; W. Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 61). 



This species has a very close relationship to C. virens, agreeing with it in 

 general shape of wings and in color. The wings are, however, still longer 

 and more pointed ; the primaries exceeding the secondaries by nearly 1.25 

 inches. The proportions of the quills are nearly the same in both; the 

 primaries, too, are similarly a little emarginated or attenuated towards the 

 end. The tail is rather more deeply forked, the feathers broader. The 

 bills are similar ; the feet are larger and stouter. 



The general colors are almost precisely the same. The outer primary, 

 however, lacks the decidedly white margin. The under parts are much 

 darker anteriorly, the entire breast being nearly a uniform olive-brown, but 

 little paler than the back ; the throat, too, in some specimens, being scarcely 

 paler. There is little or none of the pale sulphur-yellow of C. virens on the 

 abdomen, and the under wing-coverts and axillaries are much darker oliva- 

 ceous. In C. virens the middle line of the breast is always paler than the 

 sides, or at least the connecting space is short. 



The lower mandible is generally yellow ; in a few specimens, however, it 

 is quite dusky, especially on its terminal half 



The young bird has the darker head and broader light edgings, with the 

 ferruginous tinge on the wing-markings, usually seen in young of the 

 Tyrannulas. 



