216 WHITE-COLLARED FLYCATCHER. 



those of the primaries, excepting the two outer- 

 most ; the quills and the spurious wings are brown- 

 ish ; the rump dull white, while the ears and sides 

 of the head are black ; so also is the tail, which is 

 perfectly even; all the under plumage is pure 

 white ; bill black ; feet brown ; the third and fourth 

 quill is equal and longest. 



Total length, nearly 5 inches ; bill, gape, \ ; 

 front, ^ ; wings, 3^ ; tail beyond, ^ ; base, 2 



Let us now compare the genuine flycatchers, as 

 here characterized, with some other groups related 

 to them by analogy, and with which they have been 

 confounded by many of the best modern ornitholo- 

 gists. We think this comparison will be beneficial 

 to the science, and not uninteresting to the ama- 

 teur. 



The European flycatchers very closely resemble 

 both the stone-chats ( ' Saxicola) and the robins 

 fErythaea)) while they seem to approach very 

 much to those little tyrants of America, which con- 

 stitute the aberrant examples of Ptilogonys : the 

 two last mentioned resemblances are strictly analo- 

 gical, but nothing more. Muscwapa, however, in 

 its own circle, represents the flycatching shrikes 

 (Tyrannince) in theirs ; and it likewise represents 

 Ptilogonys in the circles of the Tyrannince : from 

 both these, however, it is at once distinguished 

 (independent of more obvious but variable charac- 



