208 THE TYRANT FLYCATCHER -KING BIRD. 



This bird has the mouth wide, the palate flat, with two longitudinal ridges, 

 its anterior part horny, and concave, with a median and two slight lateral 

 prominent lines; the posterior aperture of the nares oblongo-linear, papillate, 

 A\ twelfths long. The tongue is six-twelfths long, triangular, very thin, 

 sagittate and papillate at the base, flat above, pointed, but a little slit, and 

 with the edges slightly lacerated. The oesophagus is 2\ inches long, with- 

 out dilatation, of the uniform width of 3 twelfths, and extremely thin; the 

 proventriculus 3j twelfths across. The stomach is rather large, broadly el- 

 liptical, considerably compressed; its lateral muscles strong, the lower thin, 

 its length 10 twelfths, its breadth 8 twelfths, its tendons A\ twelfths in 

 breadth; the epithelium thin, tough, longitudinally rugous, reddish-brown. 

 The stomach filled with remains of insects. The intestine is short and wide, 

 7 inches long, its width at the upper part 4 twelfths, at the lower 2 twelfths. 

 The coeca are 2 twelfths long, \ twelfth in breadth, and placed at an inch and 

 a half from the extremity. The rectum gradually dilates into the cloaca, 

 which is G twelfths in width. 



The trachea is 2 inches 2 twelfths long, considerably flattened, 2\ twelfths 

 broad at the upper part, gradually contracting to \\ twelfths; its rings 56, 

 firm, with 2 dimidiate rings. It is remarkable that in this and the other 

 Flycatchers, there is no bone of divarication, or ring divided by a partition; 

 but two of the rings are slit behind, and the last two both behind and before. 

 Bronchial rings about 15. The lateral muscles are slender, but at the lower 

 part expand so as to cover the front of the trachea, and running down, termi- 

 nate on the dimidiate rings, so that on each side of the inferior larynx there 

 is a short thick mass of muscular fibres, which are scarcely capable of being 

 divided into distinct portions, although three pairs may be in some degree 

 traced, an anterior, a middle, and a posterior. These muscles are similarly 

 formed in all the other birds of this family the Muscicapinas, described in 

 this work. 



Lanius Tyrannus, Linn. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 136. 



Tyrant Flycatcher, Muscicapa tyrannus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 6G. 



Muscicapa Tvrannus, Bonap. Syn., p. 66. 



King-bird or Tyrant Flycatcher, Muscicapa tyrannus, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 265. 



Tyrant Flycatcher, Muscicapa tyrannus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 403; vol. v. p. 420. 



The outer two primaries attenuated at the end, the second longest, the 

 first longer than the third; tail even. Upper parts dark bluish-grey; the 

 head greyish-black, with a bright vermilion patch margined with yellow; 

 quills, coverts, and tail feathers brownish-black, the former margined with 

 dull white, the latter largely tipped with white; lower parts greyish-white; 



