144 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[34.] 2. Tyrannula pusilla. (Swainson.) Little Tyrant Fly-catcher. 



Genus. Tyrannula. Swainson. 



Ch. Sp. Tyrannula pusilla, super olivacea suiter pallidior, fronte orhitisque canescentibus, alts sul-rotundatis : 

 remige sextd primum et quarta secundum super anti, rostro brevi lato ; mandibula inferiori pallida. 



Sp. Ch. Little Tyrant Fly-catcher, size small ; plumage above olive, beneath paler ; orbits and front hoary ; 

 wings somewhat rounded ; first quill shorter than the sixth, second shorter than the fourth ; bill short, 

 broad ; under mandible pale. 



We have already called the attention of ornithologists to the fact of there being, 

 in America, four or five small Fly-catchers, clothed in precisely the same coloured 

 plumage, but differing essentially in the size and form of their bills, wings, &c. 

 Now, as the older ornithologists, deceived by this similarity of plumage, neglected 

 to record those distinctions which really constituted the specific characters, it 

 becomes utterly impossible either to make use of their names or their synonymes. 

 The terms in which such birds as Muscicapa fusca, atra, phebe, carolinensis, virens, 

 obscurus, acadica, &c, have been described, are nearly applicable to one and all 

 of these species (if such they be), no less than to four or five more, from different 

 parts of America, now in our museum. The task of clearly ascertaining any one 

 of these from books would, in short, be as hopeless as to attempt identifying the 

 birds of Mexico or of Brazil by the obsolete descriptions of Hernandez or Mar- 

 grave. For this reason, we consider it essential to the clear elucidation of these 

 birds, that the above names be expunged from our systems, and that the three 

 species so fully investigated and so accurately defined by Wilson should be conse- 

 crated by the names imposed on them by that most accurate observer of nature. 

 These are the M. rapax, querula, and nunciola of the American Ornithology ; and 

 these names we shall hereafter quote, without any reference to the confusion and 

 misapplication of them by other writers. 



The Tyrannula pusilla, in all probability, has been confounded with the querula 

 of Wilson, to which, as it bears the closest resemblance, we shall now compare it. 

 Its colours are the same ; but it is a smaller bird, particularly in the bill, which is 

 rather broader towards the middle, although formed nearly on the same model : 

 the under mandible is also pale. The chief distinction, however, is in the wings : 

 those of querula being lengthened and rather pointed, the first quill equal to the 

 fifth, and the fourth shorter than the second ; whereas in pusilla the wings are 



