TYRANNID^ — TYBANNINJE : TYRANT FLYCATCHERS. 439 



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

 note querulous, but loud and harsh. Nest usually high, on a horizontal bough, rude and flat, 

 of twigs, rootlets, grass, moss; eggs about 4, 0.85 X 0.65, bufiy or creamy-white, fuUy spotted 

 with lighter and darker reddish-browns. A stocky, able-bodied, dark and streaky species, 

 quite unlike any other. 



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

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

 and more clearly olive ; below, dull brownish-olive, lighter on throat, fading insensibly on belly 

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

 tufts on the flanks less conspicuous. Bill longer and comparatively narrower than in borealis; 

 black abov£, yellow below ; feet black. Wing-formula, entirely difierent ; 2d, 3d, and 4th 

 quills nearly equal and longest, 1st abruptly 0.50 shorter, about as long as 5th, or between 5th 

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

 than middle toe and claw, about equalling the bill (the reverse proportion of bill, tarsus, and 

 toe obtains in C. feoreafe). Length of ^ about 8.00 ; extent 13.00; wing 4.00-4.30; tail 3.50- 

 3.80; bill and tarsus, each, about 0.67; middle toe and claw 0.60. 9 rather less. Young: 

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

 with rasty, 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. 



38a. C. vi'rens, (Lat. vi/rens, virent, greenish. Fig. 287.) Wood Pewee. Olivaceous-brown, 

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

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

 throat and belly 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- 

 quUls edged, and the greater and middle coverts tipped, with 

 whitish ; feet and upper mandible black, 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, and the lower plumage tinged, with 

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

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

 Length 6.00-6.50; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50; tail Fig. 287. —Wood Pewee, re- 

 3.75-3.00 ; tarsus, middle toe and claw together hardly one inch, ^'"^- (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 

 or evidently less ; tarsus alone about 0.50, not longer than the hill. Bill very flat, its breadth 

 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 between 4th and 5th. Tail but little 

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

 <iant 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 the 

 peculiarly plaintive, drawling note may be 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 



