SAYIORNIS FUSCA I PEWEE ; PHCEBE-BIRD. 23 



the greater end of the egg the tracery becomes more 

 expansive and somewhat confluent, but the scratches, 

 which cover the whole surface, are for the most part 

 distinct ; they mostly preserve their longitudinal char- 

 acter, but in some specimens they run in every direction. 

 This remarkable style of egg obtains in all the North 

 American species of the genus, and may be as truly a 

 generic character as is any one of those derived from the 

 birds themselves. It would not be surprising to learn 

 that it is related to some peculiarity of the minute 

 anatomy of the oviduct. 



PEWEE; PEWIT; PHCEBE-BIRD. 

 SAYIORNIS FUSCA (Gm.) Bd. 



Chars. Head sub-crested, without colored crown-patch, and no 

 primaries emarginate. Above, dull olive-brown, becoming quite 

 blackish on the head ; below, soiled whitish or very pale yellow, 

 brightest on the belly and under tail coverts, shaded on the 

 breast and sides with grayish-brown. Wings and tail dusky ; 

 the outer tail feathers and inner secondaries edged with whitish ; 

 a whitish eye-ring ; bill, eyes and feet, black. Late summer 

 specimens, in worn plumage, are quite dull and dingy. Autumnal 

 birds are brighter-colored than in spring. Very young birds 

 have rusty edgings of the feathers, especially those of the wings 

 and tail. Length, 6.75-7.25; extent, 11.00-11.75; wing, 3.25- 

 3.50; tail, about the same, emarginate ; bill, 0.50-0.55, little 

 depressed, not so broad for its length, or so much flattened, as 

 in Contopus and Empidonax, its lateral outlines straight ; tarsus 

 equalling or exceeding the middle toe and claw, these together, 

 about 1.33 ; point of wing formed by the second-fifth quill, third 

 and fourth usually a little the longest ; first shorter than sixth. 



Having left the larger Flycatchers, we enter with this 

 species upon the "little tyrants" Tyrannulas, as they 



