TYBANNIDJE — TYBANNINM : TYRANT FL YCA TCHERS. 



439 



ward, and much further south in the West. Generally seen high on some exposed outpost ; 

 note tiuerulous, hut loud and harsh. Nest usually high, on a h(jrizoiital hough, rudo and flat, 

 of twigs, rootlets, grass, moss; eggs ahout 4, 0.85 X 0.65, huffy or creamy-white, fully spotted 

 with lighter and darker reddish-hrowns. A stocky, ahle-hodied, dark aud streaky species, 

 quite unlike any other. 



381. C. per'tinax. (Lat. pertinax, pertinacious ; pertaining to C. boreaUs; per, and tenax, 

 tenacious.) CouES' Flycatcher. Somewhat similar to C. borealis; colors more uniform 

 and more clearly olive ; hclow, dull hrownish-olive, lighter on throat, fading insensihly on helly 

 into dingy yellowish- white ; lacking the peculiar streaky appearance of C. borealis. Cottony 

 tufts on the flanks less conspicuous. BUI longer and comparatively nan'ower than in boreaUs; 

 hlaek ahove, yellow helow ; feet hlack. Wing-formula entirely different ; 2d, 3d, and 4th 

 quills nearly equal aud longest, 1st ahruptly 0.50 shorter, ahout as long as 5th, or hetween 5th 

 and 6th. Feet small, weak, and properly " contopine," hut tarsus if anything longer, not shorter, 

 than middle toe and claw, ahout equalling the hill (the reverse proportion of hill, tarsus, and 

 toe ohtains in C. borealis). Length of <? ahout 8.00 ; extent 13.00 ; fl-ing 4.0(1-4.30 ; tail 3.50- 

 3.80 ; hill and tarsus, each, ahout 0.67 ; middle toe and claw 0.60. ? rather less. Young : 

 Lower mandihle and mouth orange-yellow ; feathers of wings and tail aud their coverts skirted 

 with rusty, and a shade of the same on the under parts generally. Midsummer adults wear 

 browner, like the common wood pewee; and, in fact, the whole coloration of the species is the 

 counterpart of a wood pewee's. Mexico, N. into Arizona, where common in the pine woods. 



383. C. vi'rens. (Lat. virens, virent, greenish. Fig. 387.) Wood Pewee. 

 rather darker on head ; below, with sides washed with a paler 

 shade of the same, reaching nearly or quite across the breast ; 

 throat and helly whitish, more or less tinged with dull yellow- 

 ish ; under tail-coverts the same, usually streaked with dusky ; 

 tail and wings blackish, the former unmarked, the inner wing- 

 quills edged, and the greater aud middle coverts tipped, with 

 whitish ; feet and upper mandible hlack, under mandible usually 

 yellow, sometimes dusky ; iris brown. Spring specimens are 

 purer olivaceous ; early fall birds are brighter yellow below ; in 

 summer, before the worn feathers are renewed, the plumage is 

 quite brown and dingy whitish. Very young birds have the 

 wing-bars and edging of quills tinged with rusty, the feathers 

 of the upper parts skirted, aud the lower plumage tinged, witli 

 the same ; but in any plumage the species may he known from 

 all the birds of the fiillowing genus, by these dimensions : 

 Length 6.00-6.50; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50; tail 

 2.75-3.00 ; tarsus, middle toe and claw together hardly one inch, 

 or evidently less ; tarsus alone ahout 0.50, not longer than the bill. Bill very flat, its hreadtli 

 at base more than one-half its length ; lateral outline bulging. Wings very long and pointed ; 

 2d quill longest, 3d little if any less, 4th shorter, 1st hetween 4th and 5th. Tail but little 

 (about 0.50) shorter than wing, emarginate. Eastern N. Am., in woodland; extremely abun- 

 dant in most U. S. localities, May-Sept., entering U. S. from the South usually in March, 

 reaching its limit of dispersion by the end of April or early in May. Possibly winters along 

 the southern border. West only to the high central plains. In the breeding season thdi 

 pecuUarly plaintive, drawling note may he heard in almost any piece of woods, while the 

 dolorous little bird is at his post, perched on some exposed twig near his nest, and continually 

 raiding after insects, which he captures with a quick twist in the air and a click of the bill, 

 regaining his perch adroitly, and standing erect with hanging tail and wings. Nest a very 

 pretty structure, saddled on a horizontal bough, flat and thin-bottomed, with thick walls and 



Flo. _87. — ■\\ ood Pewee, re- 

 duced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 



