430 



SYSTEMATIC SYAWPSIS. — PASSERES— CLA3IAT0EES. 



cinerescena. Tlie gonpral Ixxly-cuLjratidn is almost (.'xactly as in cinerescens, from which it is 

 at onco distinguished Ijy the diflcrcnt shape of the bill and different pattern of the tail-feathers. 

 Agreeing very closely in colors with cooperi, it is smaller than that species, and lacks in par- 

 ticular tlie eiioniiouK develiipmeut of the bill, which, in coo2)eri, is an inch or more in length of 

 culmei], aud prdpm'tiuiiately broad. It is clearly neither criinii«.s proper, wor crinitufi cooperi, nor 

 yet cinercKceii>f- Average leugtli 8.75; extent about l^.la; wing 3.60-4.00; tail 3.7.5; bill 

 0.75 ; tarsus 0.85 ; middle toe and claw 0.75. Lower Kio Grande of Texas, and soutliward. 

 Cnmmou, breeding. Nest aud eggs like those oi crinitus. (M. crinitus var. irritahilis, Coues, 

 Pr. Phila. Acad., 1S73, \>. 05, nee Tyrannns irritahilis Vieill. M. crinitus crytlirocercus, Coues, 

 Bull. U. S. Ge(d. Surv., iv, 1878, p. 32, and v, 1879, p. 102. M. mexieamis var. cooperi, 



ii, 



Nat. Mus., i, p. 138, nee cooperi Bd. M. mexicanus, Ridg., Pr. Nat. Mns., 



Ridj:., Pr 

 p. 11.) 



37,''.. BI. cineres'eens. (Lat. cinerescens, ashy. Fig. 285.) Ash-throated Cre.sted Fly- 

 catcher. S 9 , adult: Rather olivaceous-browm above, quite brown on the head; throat 



very pale ash, sometimes almost wliitish, changing 

 gradually to very pale yellow or yellowish-white on 

 the re.st of the under parts. Primaries edged as in 

 crinitus, but secondaries and coverts edged with gray- 

 isli-white. Tail-feathers as in crinitus, but the rufous 

 of the inner webs hardly or not reaching their ends, 

 being cut off from the tip by widening of the fuscous 

 stripe (in young birds, in which the quills and tail- 

 feathers are more extensively rufous-edged, the last dis- 

 tinction does not hold). Size of crinittis, but tarsi 

 h.inger and bill .slenderer; tarsi 0.80-0.90; lull 0.75- 

 0.85, but only 0.27-0.33 broad at the base, where only 

 alxjut as wide as high, and obviously naiTowor than in 

 crinitus; thcjugh in Cape St. Lucas specimens (71/. 

 pertinax Bd.) shaped quite as in crinitus, but smaller. 

 Southwestern U. S. ; N. to Wyoming and Utah and 

 Nevada; S. through Mexico; E. and AV. from Texas 

 to the Pacific; said to winter in tlie Lower Colorado valley, U. S. Though so similar to the 

 foregoing, it is a different bird from any of th(;m. Nesting and eggs as in the others. {M. 

 mexicanus Bd., 1858, ncc Kaup, 1851. Tyranniila cinerascens, Lawr., 1851. M. cinerescens 

 Coues, 1872.) 

 376. M. lawren'cii. (To Geo. N. Lawrence.) Lawrence's Crested Flycatcher. Sindlar in 

 e(diir to 31. crinitus, but much smaller. No chestnut on tail-feathers except a nan-ow border- 

 ing (jn the outer webs, and, in the young, an inner margining also. Wing-eoverts aud inner 

 secondaries as well as the primaries edged with rufous (rarely yellowish on inner secondaries) ; 

 pileum dark or quite blackish. Bill bnjad, flat, shaped much as in Contopus, about i its own 

 length wide at the nostrils. Very small : length 7.00 or less ; wing and tail only 3.00-3.33 ; 

 bill 0.()2-O.70 ; tarsu.s 0.65-0.75. Texas ('?), Mexico, and Central Am., there running into 

 M. nigriciipilhts. 

 121. SAYIOR'NIS. (Name of Thos. Say, witli (Jr. opvis, ornis, a bird.) Pewit Flycatchers. 

 The 3 fcdlowing species do not particularly resemble each other; most authors place them in 

 separate genera, and scjme even under different subfamilies, of Tyrannicla;. The discrepancies 

 of foj'iri, hf)wever, are not startling, and for the purposes of this work the S]>ecies may be propeily 

 Y)ut together, as they agree in presenting a certain aspect not shown by tlie other N. Am. 

 groups. (Fig. 280, 6.) They are small species, about 7-00 or less in lengtli. Head with a 

 slight crest of erectile feathers. Tarsus rather longer than middle toe and claw (tlie reverse 





Fig. 285. — Asli-tliroated Flycatclier, 

 reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 



