381. 
382. 
t 
TYRANNIDAt—TYRANNINZ: 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, buffy or creamy-white, fully spotted 
with lighter and darker reddish-browns. A stocky, able-bodied, dark and streaky species. 
quite unlike any other. 
C. per'tinax. (Lat. pertinax, pertinacious; pertaining to C. borealis; per, and tenaz, 
tenacious.) Cours’ 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 peculiar streaky appearance of C. borealis. Cottony 
tufts on the flanks less conspicuous. Bill longer and comparatively narrower than in borealis; 
black above, yellow below; feet black. Wing-formula entirely different; 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. borealis). 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. @ rather less. Young: 
Lower mandible and mouth orange-yellow ; feathers of wings and tail and 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. 
C. vi'rens. (Lat. virens, virent, greenish. Fig. 287.) Woop Prwes. 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- 
quills 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 : sank Uh! 
Length 6.00-6.50; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.25-3.50; tail Fig. 287.— Wood Pewee, re- 
2.75-3.00 ; tarsus, middle toe and claw together hardly one inch, ‘ced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 
or evidently less; tarsus alone about 0.50, not longer than the bill. 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, lst between 4th and 5th. Tail but little 
(about 0.50) shorter than wing, emarginate. Eastern N. Am., in woodland; extremely abun- 
dant in most U. 8. 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 
