
176 ARKANSAW FLYCATCHER. 
its pretensions to rank as a new species. But notwithstanding 
any doubt that may be produced by its similarity to others, it 
is certainly an addition to the already numerous catalogue of 
flycatchers. . 
The total length of the Arkansaw flycatcher is eight inches. 
The billis similar to that of the crested flycatcher, but is more 
rounded above, and more abruptly inflected at tip, being of 
a blackish colour, as well as the feet. The head above, and 
nucha, are pure pale plumbeous ; the crown has a restricted 
bright orange spot in the middle, invisible when the feathers 
are at rest; there is a dusky spot between the bill and eyes. 
The cervix and back are pale plumbeous, tinged with oliva- 
ceous, and deepening on the rump almost to blackish, which 
is the colour of the superior tail-coverts. The chin is whitish ; 
the throat and upper part of the breast are of the same colour 
as the head, but paler; the remaining under surface, including 
the inferior wing and tail-coverts, is yellow. ‘The wings are 
brown, the secondaries being margined exteriorly with whitish ; 
the inner webs of the primaries are whitish towards the base, 
and near the tips they are narrowed ; the first is remarkably 
so, being almost falciform. The tail is of a deep brown black 
colour, and very slightly emarginated ; the exterior feather is 
white on the outer web, the shaft being white on the exterior 
half, and brown on the interior. 
Say first described and named this bird in the second volume 
of the work above quoted ; and he remarks that it is allied to 
the Tyrannus griseus and Tyrannus sulphuratus of Vieillot. 
There are many species for which the Arkansaw flycatcher 
might more readily be mistaken: of these, we may mention 
the crested flycatcher (Iluscicapa crinita), so well described 
and figured by Wilson in his second volume; and particularly 
the Muscicapa ferox * of Gmelin, a South American bird, the 
* This bird has been incorrectly considered by Vieillot, in his “ Natural 
History of North AmericanBirds,” as identical with the Wuscicapa crinita, 
but afterwards perceiving it to be a distinct species, he named it Tyr- 
an nus ferox, A specimen is in the Philadelphia Museum, designated 
