338 FLYCATCHERS 



venture to leave its home until it is two months old, and is dependent 

 on its parents for a month more (Thompson, Bird-Lore, 1903, p. 81). 



In most cases the nestling or Juvenal plumage is soon followed by 

 the first winter plumage, but some few birds (e. g. Seaside and Sharp- 

 tailed Sparrows) wear it for two months or more. As a rule, at the post- 

 juvenal molt, the feathers of the body and small wing-feathers are 

 molted, while the primaries and secondaries with their coverts and the 

 tail are retained, and it is often only by the color and appearance of 

 these feathers that the bird of the year can be distinguished from the 

 adult in winter, and during the former's first breeding season. 



The spring molt is rarely complete; more frequently it is restricted to 

 the body feathers, more frequently still it affects only the region about 

 the head and throat, while some species undergo no feather renewal 

 at that season. The post-breeding molt of the bird a year old, as well 

 as of those older, is complete. 



1900. DWIGHT, J., JR., Sequence of Plumages and Moults of the Passerine 

 Birds of New York, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., XIII, 173-360. 



47. FAMILY TYRANNID^E. FLYCATCHERS. (Fig. 59.) 



From the systematist's standpoint, Flycatchers are songless perch- 

 ing birds. It does not follow that they are voiceless, or even truly song- 

 less, but that, having the voice-organ, or syrinx, less highly developed 

 than other Passeres, they are possessed of comparatively limited vocal 

 powers. This family is peculiar to America. The Old- World Flycatchers 

 belong to the family Muscicapidce and are true seines. Of the Tyran- 

 nidce some four hundred species are known. They are most abundant 

 in the tropics, where their services as insect-catchers are in greatest 

 demand. Thirty species reach the United States. 



Flycatchers are found wherever there are trees. As a rule they are 

 of sedentary and solitary disposition. Their manner of feeding is char- 

 acteristic. From a favorable perch, hawklike, they await passing insects, 

 and with an aim that rarely misses, launch forth into the air; there is a 

 sharp, suggestive click of the broad bill, and completing their aerial 

 circle, they return to their perch and are again en garde. 



Both the nature of their food and tropical origin induce in Fly- 

 catchers highly migratory habits, the Phoebe being the only eastern 

 species to winter in the United States north of southern Florida. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



I. Wing over 3'00. 



1. Outer tail-feather white or whitish on outer web or both webs. 



A. Tail, 9.00, deeply forked, sides of breast scarlet, flanks salmon. 



443. SdSSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 



B. Tail black, not forked, outer web of outer feather, white, belly yellow, 



back gray 447. ARKANSAS KINGBIRD. 



2. Outer tail-feather not white on outer web. 



A. Tail black or blackish, sometimes tipped with white, adults with 

 a concealed orange-red crown patch. 



