BIRDS — TYEANNINAE — EMPIDONAX HAMMONDII. 



199 



That this species is not the T, pusilla of Swainson is sufficiently evident from the fact that 

 the hands on the wing in the latter are said to he grayish white, the throat ash gray, a whitish 

 ring round the eye, &c. ; all these parts in flaviveniria heing strongly tinged with yellowish. 

 The proportions of the quills, too, are different. 



I have quoted Tyrannula pusilla of Keinhardt and Grloger, a species captured in 1853 in the 

 Godthaab district of Greenland, as coming much nearer to the present species than to pusilla 

 of Swainson. 



EMPIDONAX HAMMONDII, Baird. 



Tyrannula hammondii, De Veset, Pr. A. N. Sc. May, 1858. 



Sp. Ch. — Tail moderately forked ; the feathers acutely pointed. Third quill longest ; second and then fourth a little shorter. 

 First much shorter than fifth, a little longer than sixth. Bill very slender, dark brown. Above dark olive green, consider- 

 ably darker on the head. Breast and sides of the body light olive green, the throat grayish white; the rest of under 

 parts bright sulphur yellow. A whitish ring round the eye. Wings and tail dark brown ; the former with two olivaceous gray 

 bands across the coverts ; the latter with the outer edge a little paler than elsewhere, but not at all white. Length, 5.50 ; 

 wing, 2.80 ; tail, 2.50 ; tarsus, .67. 



Hab. — Vicinity of Fort Tejon to Los Angeles. 



In this species the olive green on the sides is scarcely distinguishable from that on the back, 

 although becoming more yellow on the middle of the breast. There is a decided ashy shade on 

 the whole head. The only, light edging to the quills is seen on the terminal half of the 

 secondaries. The upper mandible and feet are black; the tip of the lower (and in one specimen 

 the whole) dark brown. The fork of the tail measures a quarter of an inch in depth ; the 

 longest quill exceeds the first by .40. 



This species is at once distinguishable from all the North American Tyrannulas, except 

 dbscurus, by the extreme narrowness of the bill. This is only .25 of an inch wide at the 

 posterior angle of the mouth, and only .19 at the nostrils. Its colors above are those of 

 acadicus, while the general , effect is much more that of Jlaviventris, although less brightly 

 olive. The throat is grayish, not of the same yellow with the belly ; the ring round the eye 

 white, not yellow ; the olive of the breast much more continuous and distinct ; the bands on 

 the wings dull grayish instead of clear greenish yellow. The tail, instead of being nearly 

 even, is quite deeply forked. The bill is scarcely half as wide, and brownish, not yellow, 

 beneath. The tarsus has the same peculiar scutellation. 



The differences from T. dbscurus are less easily expressed. It is, however, considerably 



