laniadjE. 137 



splash in the lake close to the window ; on looking- out, I saw a common Grey- 

 breasted Tyrant *, perched upon a dead branch hanging over the water, pluming 

 and drying itself. Intent upon watching this bird, I saw it, within a quarter of an 

 hour, dive into the lake two successive times, after some small fish or aquatic 

 insects, precisely like a Kingfisher : this action was done with amazing celerity, 

 and it then took its former station to plume and dry its feathers." — (Pernambuco.) 

 This anecdote, so beautifully illustrating the analogy of the Tyrannince with the 

 Fissirostres and the Natatores, we consider as conclusive on the subject. We 

 shall have occasion, however, to illustrate this matter further, on reviewing the 

 arrangement of the next family. 



[31.] 1. Tyrannus intrepidus. (Vieillot.) King-bird. 



Sub-familt. Tyranninse, Swains. Genus. Tyrannus, Brisson. Swains. 



Tyrant Fly-catcher, Penn., Arct. Zool., ii., p. 384, No. 263. 



Lanius tyrannus, Lath. Ind., i., p. 81, sp. 53. 



Tyrant Fly-catcher, or King-bird {Lanius tyrannus), Wilson, ii., p. 66, pi. 13, f. 1. 



Tyrannus pipiri, Vieillot, Ois. de I' Am., i., p. 73, pi. 44. 



Tyrannus intrepidus, Idem, Enc. Meth., ii., p. 849. Idem, Gal. des Ois., 214, but 



not the plate 133, which is a different species. 

 Muscicapa tyrannus, Bonap. Syn., p. 66, sp. 76. 



M. Vieillot, in his Ois. de I'Arn., called this species Tyrannus ipipiri, but 

 has since judiciously abandoned a name so unmeaning, for the more appropriate 

 one of intrepidus. It is not a little remarkable that this writer, who appears to 

 describe the habits, &c, of this species from personal observation, should have 

 given (Gal. des Ois. pi. 133), as the representation of the female, the figure of 

 another species, which we have never seen, and certainly is not known to inhabit 

 North America. We rather suspect, however, that the fault must lie with the 

 draughtsman, who seems to have coloured this figure in such a manner as to 

 produce a fictitious species — the rufous wings, tail, and olive back, representing 

 the Tyrannus crinitus ; and the white under plumage and crest being those of 

 intrepidus. No such species exists in the Paris museum, nor have we ever seen 



* Tyrannus crudelis, Swains. Monog. 



