SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER, 7? 
SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER. (Muscicapa 
Jorficata.) 
PLATE II.—Fie. 1. 
Muscicapa forficata, Gmel. Syst. i. p. 9351, sp. 22.—Lath. Ind. p. 485, sp. 70.— 
Vieill. Ois. de VAm. Sep. i. p. 71.—Stephens, Cont. of Shaw’s Zool. xx. p. 413, 
pl. 3.—Tyranuus forficatus, Say, in Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, 
ii. p. 224.—Moucherolle 4 queue fourchue du Mexique, Buff. Otis. iv. p. 564.— 
Gobe-mouche 4 queue fourchue du Mexique, Buff. Pl. enl. 677.—Swallow- 
tailed Flycatcher, Lath. Syn. ii. parti. p. 356, sp. 50.—Philadelphia Museum, 
No. 6623. 
MILVULUS FORFICATUS.—SWAINSON. 
Muscicapa forficata, Bonap. Synop. p. 67. 
Tis rare and beautiful bird is, I believe, now figured from 
nature for the second time; and as the plate given by Buffon 
conveys but an imperfect idea of its characters, the represen- 
tation in the accompanying engraving will certainly prove the 
more acceptable to naturalists. That author had the merit 
of publishing the first account of this species; and the indi- 
vidual he described was received from that part of Louisiana 
which borders on Mexico. Neither Latham, Gmelin,’ nor 
Vieillot seem to have had an opportunity of examining this 
bird, as they have evidently drawn on Buffon for what they 
have said relative to it. Hence it appears that the swallow- 
tailed flycatcher has never been obtained from the time of 
Buffon to the period of Major Long’s expedition to the unex- 
plored region it inhabits. ‘The specimen before us, which is 
a fine adult male, was shot by Mr Titian Peale, on the 24th 
of August, on the Canadian fork of the Arkansaw river. 
Although this bird is very different from the fork-tailed fly- 
catcher, yet, on account of the form of the tail, and the simi- 
larity of the common name, they are apt to be mistaken for 
each other, and when both are immature, some caution is 
required to avoid referring them to the same species. Not- 
withstanding this similarity, some authors have placed the 
fork-tailed flycatcher in their genus Z’yrannus, and the present 
