152 FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 



passing insects ; or, flying downwards, it alights on the tufts of herbage 

 which appear above the water, affording it a resting place in the midst 

 of those partially inundated lands called savannas, beyond the limits 

 of which it is not frequently seen. While on the tuft, this bird moves 

 its tail in a manner similar to that of the Wagtails. Besides insects, 

 the Fork-tailed Flycatcher feeds occasionally on vegetable substances, 

 as, on dissection, the stomach of our specimen was found to be filled 

 with Pokeberries [Phytolacca decandra, L.). 



Beyond these particulars we have no positive knowledge of the man- 

 ners of our Flycatcher, though Vieillot has recorded a history of some 

 length, taken from D'Azara ; but the bird observed by the latter author 

 in Paraguay and Buenos Ayres, though closely allied, appears to be 

 specifically distinct from the one we are describing. Vieillot has since 

 been convinced of this difference, and, in the (French) New Dictionary 

 of Natural History, he has separated the more southern species under 

 the name of Tyrannus violentus. In color that bird strongly resembles 

 our Muscicapa savana, but it is considerably smaller, and has different 

 habits, being gregarious ; whilst the savana, as we have already stated, 

 is a solitary bird. 



Another species, for which ours may be readily mistaken, is the 

 Tyrannus hellulus, Vieill., which, however, is much larger, with a still 

 longer tail, differing also by having a large black collar extending to 

 each corner of the eye, margining the white throat ; and the head of 

 the same bluish-gray color with the other superior parts of the body ; 

 the remaining under parts being of the same color, with a narrow brown 

 line in the middle of each feather ; and by having a whitish line on each 

 side of the head behind the eye, extending to the occiput. The Tyran- 

 nus hellulus is a native of Brazil. 



