THE PEWEE. 133 



SAYORNIS, BONAPARTE. 



Sayornis, BONAPARTE? Ateneo Italiano (1854). /&., Comptes Rendus (1854) 

 Notes Orn. Delattre. 



Head with a blended depressed moderate crest; tarsus decidedly longer than 

 middle toe, which is scarcely longer than the hind toe ; bill rather narrow, width at 

 base about half the culmen; tail broad, long, slightly forked, equal to the wings, 

 which are moderately pointed, and reach to the middle of the tail, first primary- 

 shorter than the sixth. 



SAYORNIS FUSCUS. Baird. 

 The Pewee; Phebe-bird. 



Muscicapafusca, Gmelin. Syst. Nat, I. (1788) 931. Aud. Orn. Biog., II. (1834) 

 122; V. (1839) 424. 76., Birds Amer., I. (1840) 223. 

 Tyrannm fuscus, Nuttall. Man., I. (2d ed., 1840) 312. 

 Muscicapa nitnciola, Wilson. Am. Orn., II. (1810) 78; pi. xiii. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sides of breast and upper parts dull olive-brown, fading slightly toward the tail; 

 top and sides of head dark-brown ; a few dull-white feathers on the eyelids ; lower 

 parts dull yellowish-white, mixed with brown on the chin, and in some individuals 

 across the breast; quills brown, the outer primary, secondaries, and tertials edged 

 with dull-white; in some individuals the greater coverts faintly edged with dull- 

 white ; tail brown, outer edge of lateral feather dull-white, outer edges of the rest 

 like the back; tibiae brown; bill and feet black; bill slender, edges nearly straight; 

 tail rather broad, and slightly forked, third quill longest, second and fourth nearly 

 equal, the first shorter than sixth. 



Length, seven inches; wing, three and forty-two one-hundredths; tail, three and 

 thirty one-hundredths. 



Hob. Eastern North America. 



In autumn, and occasionally in early spring, the colors are much clearer and 

 brighter. Whole lower parts sometimes bright sulphur-yellow, above greenish-olive, 

 top and sides of the head tinged with sooty ; in the young of the year, the colors are 

 much duller; all the wing coverts broadly tipped with light-ferruginous, as also the 

 extreme ends of the wings and tail feathers; the brown is prevalent on the whole 

 throat and breast; the hind part of the back, rump, and tail, strongly ferruginous. 



The tail of this species is quite deeply forked, the external feather being from 

 thirty-five one-hundredths to forty one-hundredths of an inch longer than the 

 middle one. 



This well-known bird is a very common summer inhabi- 

 tant of all New England. It arrives from the South often 

 as early as the middle of March, sometimes before the last 

 snowstorm of the season. As soon as the birds have 

 paired, usually by the last of April, they commence build- 



