32 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 



Myiarchus crinitus, {L.) Gab. — Great-crested Flyoatclier. 



While this bird was not very common, yet we came upon it occasion- 

 ally. Nearly always seen in the open chaparral, in which one can leave 

 the main travelled road, either on foot or horseback, and work around 

 among the undergrowth and scattering, old, stunted trees. 



240— 9 —8.25 X 13.00 x 4.00 x 3.50. Apr. 19, Hidalgo. 

 420— 5 —8.50 X 12.75 x 4.00 x 3.50. May 11, Hidalgo. 



MYIARCHUS CRINITUS ERYTHROCERCUS, I^Scl. & Slllv.) Goues. 



[? Tyrannula irritalilis, Bp. C. A. 1. 1850, 189. (Supposed to belong here from quotation 



ofAzara. "South America." 'Not Tyrannus irritaiilis YieiW.) 

 Myiarchus crinitus var. irritahilis [" Vieill."], Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. July, 1872, 65. 



(Monographic. Quotation of Vieillot inapplicable.) — B. B. & R. N. A, B. ii. 1874, 



331. (Not Tyrannus irritahilis Vieill.) 

 f Tyrannula mexicana, Kaup, P. Z. S. 1851, 51. (Scarcely or not determinable ; better not 



be used for any species. ) 

 Myiarchus erythrocercus, Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1868, 631, 632 (Venezuela). 

 Pyrocephalus (Myiarchus) erythrocercus, Gray, Handl. n. 5522. 

 Myiarchus mexicanus, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. 1869, 202 (Yucatan). 

 Myiarchus yucatanensis, Lawr. Pr. Phila. Acad. 1871, 235 (Yucatan. Name applied to 



the same specimen he called mexicanus in 1869.) 



Hab. — Central and South America and Mexico. South to Paraguay. North to the 

 Eio Grande of Texas (Sennett). 



Ch. — M. crinito simillimus, sed nolceo ohscuriore (iuimis vegeto), gastroio dilutiore, db- 

 domine suhflavo, giila et pectore pallide cinereis, rectricihus rufo et fusco fer^ dimidiatis, 

 rostro nigra, modico (0.75). 



Chars, subsp. — (Etescription of a specimen collected May 9, 1877, .it Hidalgo, Texas, 

 by G. B. Sennett.) — On comparing this bird with typical specimens of M. crinitus, taken 

 at the same time, in the same place, and by the same person, it is immediately perceived 

 to be different. The lateral tail-feathers have a stripe of fuscous-brown on the inner 

 web adjoining the shaft, this stripe equalling or exceeding the width of the whole outer 

 web of the respective feathers ; whereas in crinitus there is only the narrowest possible 

 dusky stripe on the inner web, or none at all. This dusky stripe is of uniform width 

 throughout, not enlarged at the end to occupy most or all of the feather, as is the case 

 with cinerascens. The entire upper parts are darker than those of crinitus — that is, they 

 have a sordid brownish-olive cast, instead of the clearer and purer greenish-olive of 

 crinitus. The yellow of the belly is much paler. The ash of the throat is decidedly 

 lighter and clearer, and it comes farther down the breast, yielding to the yellow with- 

 out the intervention of the olivaceous pectoral area which is usually conspicuous in 

 crinitus. The general aspect of the under parts is much as in cinerascens, both the dis- 

 tribution and shade of the colors being more as witnessed in the latter than as seen in 

 crinitus. The light edgings of the wing-feathers are also paler than those of crinitus. 

 The bill is black, not dark brown, slenderer than in crinitus, hut not longer than in one 

 of the Texas specimens of cri«'t<Ms, and, in fact, differing less from oneof thcvse than these 

 do from each other. The bill in size is nothing like that of var. coopeii, nor has it 

 the very constricted shape of that of cinerascens. 



In fine, this bird is obviously different from ordinary crinitus of the United States. 

 The general body-coloration is almost exactly as in cinerascens, from which it is at once 

 distinguished by the different shape of the bill and different pattern of the tail-feath- 

 ers. Agreeing very closely in colors with var. cooperi of Mexico, it is smaller than that 

 species, and lacks in particular the enormous development of the bill, which, in 

 cooperi, is an inch or mora in length of culmen, and proportionately broad. It is 

 clearly neither crinitus proper, nor crinitus var. cooperi, nor yet cinerascens. 



