SA VOliNlS FUSCUS. "* ' ^ 



SAYORNIS FUSCUS. 

 PhCBbe. Bridge Peweo. 

 Sayonis fuscu.'s IIaird, liinls N. A.; 1858, 184. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sr Cn. Form, rather robust. Size, medium. Sternum, a.*! given above. Tongue, tliin and horny, biiiil, but without 

 tne terminal cilia. Stomach, rather mu-^cular. 



Color. Adult. Above, including upper tail coverts, sooty-brown, darkest on the head, with a tinge of olivaceous on 

 all protion-s excepting top of head. Wings and tail, dark-brown with the outer edges of all the feathei-s, yellowish-white. 

 Both rows of wing coverts, naiTOwly tipped with white, forming indistinct bars. Beneath, including under wing and tail 

 Coverts, pale yellowish-white, with the sides, Hanks, and an indistinct band across brea.st, sooty-hrown. Bill and foot, 

 black. 



Adult in autumn. Darker above than in summer, the wing bars are clearer, the under portions are ot a decided sul- 

 phury yellow, and the dark markings are not as extended. 



Younij of the year. More olivaceous above than in the adult stage. The whitish wing liai-s are rejilaced by yellowish 

 rufous, there i.s a deeper shade of yellow below, and the sooty-brown markings are olivaceous. 



Ncsilint/s. Much browner above than the young, being overwashed with yellowish-rufous, but the top of the head is 

 darker. The wing bars are yellowLsh-rufous. Beneath, pale yellowish-white with faint indications of brownish on the 

 sides. Upper mandiljle, black, under, brown. Sexes, similar in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



There is little or no difference in plumage, in specimens of the same age and season but there is a slight variation in 

 form of the bill as usual in this group. Known from the Wood Pewee by the larger size, black bill which is longer even 

 in nestlings, and general browner colors above in all stages, and from other Flycatchers by tne characters as given. Dis- 

 trilmted in summer throughout Eastern North America, from Canada at least as far south as South Carolina. Winters in 

 the southern section from theCarolinas to Florida and on the Keys. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of twenty-five specimens from New England and Florida. Length, 700; stretch. 11'41; wing, 

 O.fifi; tail, 2'G7; bill, '.55; tarsus, '70. Longest specimen, 7'50; greatest extent of wing, I'-^'fiO; longest wing, 3-82; tail,3'75; 

 bill, -00; tai-sus, '"S. Shortest specimen, 6'50; smallest extent of wing, lO'Sl!; shortest wing 2'40; tail, 2'50; bill, '50; tai-sus, 

 •6.'). 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nest.i, placed under bridges, buildings, in the shelter of ledges of rocks, upturned trees, or banks of earth. Composed 

 of moss and root-: lined with fine grass, rootlets, and hair. Dimensions, external diameter, 4'50, internal, 2'50. External 

 depth, 2-50. internal, 1-25. 



Er/y.i, four to six in number, oval in form, creamy-wliite in color, occasionally dotted with reddish-brown. Dimensions 

 from -75 x -50 to -HO X -00. 



HABITS. 



On the thirty-fir.st of December, 1868, I found myself for the first time, gun in hand, 

 in the piny woods of Florida. As this was then, comparatively speaking, an unknown 

 section to ornithologists, I wa.s natunilly anxious to find what Inrds occurred there. I had 

 not gone far when I saw a Flycatcher perched on the lower branch of a pine, but some 

 distance above my head; this I instantly shot, and, upon picking it up, was a little disap- 

 pointed at fin<ling that it was a Phoebe, for after ti'aveling so far I expected to find some- 

 thing with which I was not quite so familiar, but later in the day I secured several fine 

 birds that I had never seen living before and as I always consider it necessary to actually 

 shoot every species, in order to be absolutely sure of their identification, I was conten- 

 tcil for I had proved beyond a doubt that this Flycatcher wintered in Florida. 1 did not 



