199 



ARKANSAW FLYCATCHER. 



-f MlTSCICAPA VERTICALIS, BoilOp. 



PLATE LIV.— Male and Female. 



This species extends its range from the mouth of the Columbia River, 

 across our continent, to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico; but how far north 

 it may proceed is as yet unknown. On the 10th of April, 1837, whilst on 

 Cayo Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, I found a specimen of this bird dead at 

 the door of a deserted house, which had recently been occupied by some 

 salt-makers. From its freshness I supposed that it had sought refuge in the 

 house on the preceding evening, which had been very cold for the season. 

 Birds of several other species we also found dead on the beaches. The indi- 

 vidual thus met with was emaciated, probably in consequence of a long jour- 

 ney and scanty fare; but I was not the less pleased with it, as it afforded me 

 the means of taking measurements of a species not previously described in 

 full. In my possession are some remarkably fine skins, from Mr. Town- 

 send's collection, which differ considerably from the figure given by Bona- 

 parte, who first described the species. So nearly allied is it to the Green- 

 crested Flycatcher, M. crinita, that after finding the dead bird, my son and 

 I, seeing many' individuals of that species on the trees about the house men- 

 tioned, shot several of them, supposing them to be the same. We are in- 

 debted to the lamented Thomas Say for the introduction of the Arkansaw 

 Flycatcher into our Fauna. Mr. Nuttall has supplied me with an account 

 qf its manners. 



"We first met with this bold and querulous species, early in July, in the 

 scanty woods which border the north-west branch of the Platte, within the 

 range of the Rocky Mountains; and from thence we saw them to the forests 

 of the Columbia and the Wahlamet, as well as in all parts of Upper Califor- 

 nia, to latitude 32°. They are remarkably noisy and quarrelsome with each 

 other, and in the time of incubation, like the King Bird, suffer nothing of 

 the bird kind to approach them without exhibiting their predilection for 

 battle and dispute. About the middle of June, in the dark swamped forests 

 of the Wahlamet, we every day heard the discordant clicking warble of this 

 bird, somewhat like tsh'k, tsh'k, tshivait, sounding almost like the creaking 

 of a rusty door-hinge, somewhat in the manner of the King Bird, with a 

 blending of the notes of the Blackbird or Common Grakle. Although I saw 

 these birds residing in the woods of the Columbia, and near the St. Diego in 



