200 ARKANSAW FLYCATCHER. 



Upper California, I have not been able to find the nest, which is probably- 

 made in low thickets, where it would be consequently easily overlooked. 

 In the Rocky Mountains they do not probably breed before midsummer, as 

 they are still together in noisy quarrelsome bands until the middle of June." 

 Mr. Townsend's notice respecting it is as follows: "This is the Chlow- 

 ish-pil of the Chinooks. It is numerous along the banks of the Platte, par- 

 ticularly in the vicinity of trees and bushes. It is found also, though not so 

 abundantly, across the whole range of the Rocky Mountains; and along the 

 banks of the Columbia to the ocean, it is a very common species. Its voice 

 is much more musical than is usual with birds of its genus, and its motions 

 are remarkably quick and graceful. Its flight is often long sustained, and 

 like the Common King Bird, with which it associates, it is frequently seen 

 to rest in the air, maintaining its position for a considerable time. The 

 males are wonderfully belligerent, fighting almost constantly, and with great 

 fury, and their loud notes of anger and defiance remind one strongly of the 

 discordant grating and creaking of a rusty door-hinge. The Indians of the 

 Columbia accuse them of a propensity to destroy the young, and eat the eggs 

 of other birds. 



Tyrannus verticalis, Say, Long's Exped., vol. ii. p. 60. 



Arkansaw Flycatcher, Muscicapa verticalis, Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 18. 



Muscicapa verticalis, Bonap. Syn., p. 67. 



Arkansaw Flycatcher, Muscicapa verticalis, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 273. 



Arkansaw Flycatcher, Muscicapa verticalis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 422. 



The outer five primaries much attenuated toward the end, the first more 

 so, the fifth least, the third longest, but the outer four nearly equal; tail 

 almost even. Upper parts ash-grey, the back tinged with yellow; a patch of 

 bright vermilion on the top of the head; wing-coverts and quills chocolate- 

 brown; upper tail-coverts and tail black, the outer web of the lateral feathers 

 yellowish-white; throat greyish-white, sides and fore part of neck ash-grey, 

 the rest of the lower parts pure yellow. Female similar. 



Male, 9, lo£. 



