
174 SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 
bird in Muscicapa, whereas, from an inspection of the bills, it 
will at once be seen that the latter would be still more pro- 
perly placed in their genus Tyrannus, as the form of its bill 
is exactly the same with that of the kingbird, the type of the 
subgenus. 
The swallow-tailed flycatcher, when in full plumage, is 
eleven inches long. The bill and feet are blackish; the irides 
are brown (red, according to authors). The upper part of the 
head and neck is of a light grey; the back and scapulars are 
dark cinereous, tinged with reddish brown; the rump is of the 
same colour, but strongly tinged with black, and the superior 
tail-coverts are deep black; the under part of the body is milk- 
white, the flanks being tinged with red ; the inferior tail-coverts 
are pale rosaceous ; the wings are brownish black, the upper 
coverts and secondaries being margined externally, and at tip 
with dull whitish; the under wing-coverts are whitish rosa- 
ceous ; the axillary feathers, above and beneath, are of a vivid 
scarlet colour. The tail is greatly elongated and excessively 
forked ; it is of a deep velvet black colour, each feather having 
the terminal margin of a dull whitish tint, and the shafts white 
at their bases. The three exterior feathers on each side are 
of a delicate pale rosaceous colour on a considerable part of 
their length from the base. The external one is five inches 
and a half long; the second and third gradually decrease in 
length, but the fourth is disproportionately shorter, and from 
this feather there is again a gradual decrease to the sixth, 
which is little more than two inches long. 
The female of the swallow-tailed flycatcher is probably very 
similar to the male, but the colours of the young bird are much 
Jess vivid, and the exterior tail-feathers are much shorter than 
those of the adult. 
The swallow-tailed flycatcher is as audacious as the king- 
bird, attacking with unhesitating intrepidity, and turning the 
flight of the most powerful of the feathered tribe. Its note 
consists of a chirping sound, like ¢sch, tsch, much resem- 
bling that of the prairie dog (Arctomys Ludoviciana, Ord), by 

