172 TYRANNUS CAROLINENSIS. 



als also have the habit of visiting particular trees during certain hours of the clay and I 

 have seen the same bird return to perch on the top of a high black walnut regularly every 

 day at a given hour in the afternoon. I do not think that he missed a day during the 

 two or three weeks that I observed him. These birds guard their nests quite assiduously, 

 especially when they have young, but do not appear to pay their offspring much attention 

 after they have left the nest and have become somewhat accustomed to snapping up insects, 

 in which art they soon become expert. About the middle of August, when the young are 

 flying about, the adults become silent and retire to the woods to moult and soon after mi- 

 grate. 



GENUS II. TYRANNUS. THE KING BIRDS. 



GEN. CH. Head, semi-crested with a briyht central patch of feathers. Outer quills, incised. Tail, square and s!iy!it/>j 

 emaryinale. Height of keel , about equal to one half the length of the coracoids. Upper outline of manubrium, viewed from 

 the side, showiny a rounded process with a truncated end. Marginal indentations, shallow but not very narrow. Only sliyhl 

 traces of either division of the broncho-trachealis but the bronchiaHs is well developed. 



The colors above are dark but lighter below being either white or yellow. The central patch of the crown is only pres- 

 ent in the adult stage. This genus appears to come next Myiarchus in laryngeal developement as well as in sternal char- 

 acters. 



TYRANNUS CAROLINENSIS. 



King Bird. 

 Tyrannus Carolinensis BAIRD, Birds N. A.; 1858, 171. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. CH. Form, robust. Size, medium. Sternum, not very stout. Feathers of the crest, somewhat lance-shaped. 

 Bill, shorter than the head. Tongue, thin, flat, and horny, bifid at tip, but not provided with cilia. 



Color. Adult. Above, dark slaty-blue with the top of head nearly black. Upper tail coverts, dark and edged with 

 white. Tail, black with the outer web of two thirds of the terminal portion of outer feather rather widely, and a shorter 

 terminal portion of all the remaining feathers narrowly edged, and tips of them all, white. Wings, dark-brown with the 

 lesser coverts slaty, and both rows tipped with white with a tinge of sulphury-yellow forming indistinct bars, while all the 

 remaining feathers are edged with white. Central patch of feathers on the crown, bright-orange under which arc some of 

 yellow. Beneath including under tail coverts, pure-white with under wing coverts, sidas, flanks, and an indistinct band 

 across the breast, slaty. Bill and feet, black. 



Young. Show traces of brown above, the head is not as dark, the orange patch is not as extended, and the white tip- 

 ping to the tail is not as broad. 



Young of the year in autumn. Quite similar to the preceding but browner above, especially on the head which is 

 without the concealed central patch. The white edgings of the feathers of the rump are replaced by reddish and the other 

 white markings above are tinged with sulphury-yellow. 



Nestlinys. Uniform brownish-slaty above. The white markings are much less extended than in the young and cither 

 decidedly sulphury or yellowish-rufous. Beneath, pure silky-white with but few traces of slaty anywhere. Inside of mouth, 

 yellow. Bill, black. Feet, plumbeous. Sexes, similar in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



There is but little individual variation in plumage even in specimens from Florida, but the bills of the more southern 

 birds are larger and have the curved tip longer. Nestlings from the same brood vary somewhat in amount of white on the 

 wings and tail, also in shade of color above and amount of slaty below. Distributed in summer thoughout Eastern United 

 States from Florida, at least as far north as Canada. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of seven specimens from New England. Length, 8'37; stretch, 14'55; wing, 4'21; tail, 3-31: 

 bill, '72; tarsus, '65. Longest specimen, 8'55; greatest extent of wing, 15'27; longest wing, 5'05; tail, 4'42; bill, -70; 

 tarsus, (>. Shortest specimen, 8'20; smallest extent of wing, 13-77; shortest wing, 4'37; tail, 3'10; bill, '75; tarsus, "70. 





