MTIAECHUS. 91 



4. Myiarchus cinerasceus. 



Tyrannula cinerascens, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. v. p. 131 (1851) *. 



Myiarchus cinerascens, Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 121 (partim) 'j Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 384 'j 



Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1872, p. 69'; Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 288'; Bull. U. S. 



Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 28 ' ; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 155 \ 

 Myiarchus crinitus var. cinerascens, Baird, Brew., & Eidgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 337 °. 

 Tyrannula measicana, Kaup, P. Z. S. 1851, p. 51 \ 

 Myiarchus mexicanus, Baird, B. N. Am. p. 179, t. 5 ". 

 MyionaoB mexicanus. Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. p. 74". 

 Myiarchus pertinax, Baird, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1859, p. 303 *^ 



M. magistro similis, sed abdomine pallidiore, rostro minore, reotrice caudee extima utrinque in pogonio intemo 

 fere ad rhachidem (prseter apicem) fulva. (Descr. maris ex AtUxco, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hab. NoETH America, Western States from the Eocky Mountains westward, and from 

 Wyoming southwards, Lower California s. — Mexico ^ ^^, Yecera in Sonora, (W.Lloi/d), 

 Mazatlan (Grayson ^, Forrer), Topo Chico in Nuevo Leon {F. S. Armstrong), San 

 Juan del Kio {Be'bouch), Huehuetlan (Ferrari-Perez), Atlixco {Boucard & F. J).G.), 

 Oaxaca (Boucard^, FenocMo), Tapana, Sta. Efigenia, Tehuantepec city [Sumi- 

 chrast ^) ; Guatemala, Duenas ^, Barranco Hondo, Chuacus {O^S. & F. D. G.). 



This species is distinguished from its near ally M. magister chiefly by its smaller 

 bill, the paler colour of the abdomen, and the distribution of the fulvous in the tail- 

 feathers, which in most cases occupies the greater part of the inner web of the outer 

 feather, and diverging from the shaft as it approaches the tip leaves the tip itself 

 dark. But the variation in the amount of the dark tip in different individuals is very 

 considerable. In the young bird in the first plumage the distribution is somewhat 

 different, as the rufous colour runs close to the shaft to the end of the feather ; this 

 fact gives us a clue to unravel the complicated synonymy of this species. We have 

 already stated that Tyrannula meodcana of Kaup is the smaller-billed of the two birds 

 described by him in 1851, that with the larger bill being the preceding species. 



We have two specimens before us which have been compared with Kaup's type in 

 the Darmstadt Museum, one of these is from Atlixco, the other from Oaxaca; they 

 differ from the typical M. cinerascens in that the tip of the inner web of the outer tail- 

 feather is rufous, but with the young of M. cinerascens before us we have little doubt 

 that in their next moult their tails would be normally coloured. It therefore comes to 

 this, that Baird was perfectly right when he placed Tyrannulus cinerascens of Lawrence 

 as a synonym of T. meodcana of Kaup ; but the latter name has been so differently 

 applied and in so many ways by various authors for the last thirty years, during which 

 the title M. cinerascens has acquired increasing stability, that we at least have no hesita- 

 tion in employing M. cinerascens here instead of the ill-defined M. mexicanus, which 

 may or may not have a slight priority. 



M. cinerascens is a bird of the south-western portions of the United States, where it 

 is a summer visitor. Dr. Coues found it abundant in Arizona, arriving late in April and 



12* 



