SMALL GREEN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 



227 



branches, utters, every half minute or so, a sudden sharp 

 squeak, which is heard a considerable way through the woods ; 

 and, as it flies from one tree to another, has a low, querulous 



are, however, in reality, little tyrants, and agree in their habits, as far as 

 their smaller size and weaker powers enable them. Their food is nearly 

 the same, more confined, however, to insects, sufficient power being 

 wanting to overcome any stronger prey. Tyrannula will contain a great 

 many species most closely allied to each other in form, size, and colour ; 

 so much so, that it is nearly impossible to distinguish them without a 

 comparison of many together. When they are carefully analysed, they 

 seem distinct, and the characters being constant, are also of sufficient 

 specific importance. They are natives of both North and South Ame- 

 rica, and the adjacent islands. The North American known species are 

 those described by our author, which will be found in Vol. III., one 

 or two figured by Bonaparte, with two new species discovered in the 

 course of the last Overland Arctic Expedition, and described by Mr Swain- 

 son in the second volume of the " Northern Zoology." South America, 

 however, possesses the great host of species, where we may yet expect 

 many novelties. The extent and the closely allied features of the group 

 render them most difficult of distinction.* 



Both this form and the tyrants are confined to the New "World, and 

 the latter may be said to represent the great mass of our flycatchers. 



The new species described by Mr Swainson are, Tyrannula pusilla, 

 Sw., very closely allied to Muscicapa querula of Wilson, but satisfactorily 

 proved distinct ; the wings are much shorter, so me what rounded, and 

 the comparative proportion of the quills differ ; the colours, however, 

 nearly agree : the species brought home by the expedition was killed at 

 Carlton House in 53° N. lat., and it extends southward to Mexico. — T. 

 Rickardsonii, closely resembling T.fusca; it differs in the form of the 

 bill and size of the feet ; the crest is thick and lengthened ; the upper 

 plumage is more olive, while the under has an olive whitish tint ; the 

 tail is more forked : it was found in the neighbourhood of Cumberland 

 House, frequenting moist shady woods by the banks of rivers and lakes. 



Mr Audubon also figures a species as new, and dedicates it to Dr Trail 

 of Liverpool ; but, as I have remarked before, it is impossible to decide 

 from a plate, however accurate. Tyrannula Trailii will come nearest to 

 the wood pewee, but differs as well in some parts of the plumage as in 

 the habits. It is found in the woods which skirt the prairie lands of the 

 Arkansas river. — Ed. 



* It may be here remarked, that the Prince of Musignano, in his Synopsis, 

 evidently recognises this form as a subgenus, though he has not characterised 

 it.— Ed. 



