150 FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 



less inconvenience will be produced by changing the name of an almost 

 unknown species, than would result from altering that of one with which 

 we are so familiar. We have therefore adopted Vieillot's specific name 

 of savana, taken by that author from Montbeillard, who, in Bufibn's 

 work, thereby endeavored to commemorate this bird's habit of frequenting 

 inundated savannas. Naturalists who separate Tyrannus from Musci- 

 capa generically, disagree with respect to the arrangement of this 

 species. For ourselves, we consider the former as a sub-genus of Mub- 

 cicapa, including the larger species, among which our Fork-tailed Fly- 

 catcher must be placed. 



This species is fourteen inches long, its tail measuring nearly ten ; 

 the extent from the tip of one wing to that of th^ other is fourteen 

 inches. The bill is somewhat more slender and depressed at base than 

 that of the King-bird, and, as well as the feet, is black. The irides are 

 brown. The upper part of the head, including the cheeks and superior 

 origin of the neck, is velvet-black. The feathers of the crown are 

 somewhat slender, elevated, and of a yellow-orange color at base, con- 

 stituting a fine spot, not visible when they are in a state of repose ; the 

 remaining part of the neck above and the back are grayish ash ; the 

 rump is of a much darker grayish ash, and gradually passes into black, 

 which is the color of the superior tail coverts ; the inferior surface of 

 the body, from the base of the bill, as well as the under wing and under 

 tail coverts, is pure white. The wings are dusky, the coverts being 

 somewhat lighter at tip and on the exterior side ; the first primary is 

 edged with whitish on the exterior web, and is equal in length to the 

 fourth ; the second primary is longest ; the three outer ones have a very 

 extraordinary and profound sinus or notch on their inner webs, near 

 the tip, so as to terminate in a slender process. The tail is very pro- 

 foundly forked, the two exterior feathers measuring nearly ten inches 

 in perfect individuals, whilst the two succeeding are but five inches long, 

 and the other feathers become gradually and proportionably shorter, 

 until those in the middle are scarcely two inches in length ; -the tail is, 

 in fact, so deeply divided, that if the two exterior feathers were removed, 

 it would still exhibit a very forked appearance. All the tail feathers 

 are black, the exterior one each side being white on the remarkably 

 narrow outer web, and on the shaft beneath, for nearly three-fourths of 

 its length. 



I cannot agree with those who say that the female is distinguished 

 from the other sex by wanting the orange spot on the head, as I think 

 we may safely conclude, from analogy, that there is hardly any differ- 

 ence between the sexes. The. young birds are readily recognised, by 

 being destitute of that spot, as well as by having the head cinereous, 

 instead of black ; the color of the whole upper part of the body is also 

 darker, the tail considerably shorter, and the exterior feathers not so 



