BIRDS — BOM B YCILLID AE — MYXADESTES TOWSENDII. 
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Tins genus differs from Ptilogonys in having the bill narrower and much more depressed ; the 
culmen nearly straight to the decurved tip ; the nostrils smaller. The tarsus is without 
scutellae or feathers. The wings are much longer, more pointed, and much less graduated. 
The tail well forked, and the lateral feathers is graduated ; all broader at the base, and 
tapering towards the end. 
I describe this genus from M. toionsendii, which belongs to it according to Cabanis, not 
having a specimen of the type at hand. Its affinities are with Ptilogonys and Cichlopsis in many 
respects. It differs in the tarsi without scales, the very short first, and the long second primary, 
&c. In many respects it has relationship with the Turdidae, but I am not sufficiently familiar 
with exotic forms of the last mentioned family to come to any conclusion at present on the 
subject. 1 
MYIADESTES TOWNSENDII, Cabanis. 
Towisseud's Flycatcher. 
Ptiliogonys townsendii, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, May, 1839, 206 ; pi. 419, f. 2.— In. Syn. 1839, 46.— Ib. Birds Amer. I, " 
1840,243 ; pi. 69.— Townsend, Narrative, 1839, 338.— Nuttall, Man, I, 2d cd. 1840, 
361.— Gambel, Pr. A. N. Sc. I, 1643, 261. 
Cuticivora townsendii, DeKat, N. Y. Zool. II, 1844, 110. 
Myiadestes toionsendii, Cabanis, Wiegm. Arch. 1847, i, 208. 
? Myiadestes unicolor, Sclater, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1856, 299 ; 1857, 5. (Is very closely allied* Cordova, Mexico ) 
Sp. Ch.— Tail rather deeply forked. Exposed portion of spurious quill less than one-third that of the second ; fourth quill 
longest ; second a little longer than the sixth. Head not crested. General color bluish ash, paler beneath ; under wing coverts 
white. Quills with a brownish yellow bar at the base of both webs mostly concealed, but shewing a little below the greater 
coverts and alulae ; this succeeded by a bar of dusky, and next to it another of brownish yellow across the outer webs of the 
central quills only. Tertials tipped with white] Tail feathers dark brown ; the middle ones more like the back ; the lateral 
with the outer web and tip, the second with the tip only, white. A white ring round the eye. 
Length, 8 inches ; wing, 4.50 ; tail, 3.85. (8234.) 
Hab. — United States from Rocky Mountains and Black Hills to the Pacific ; south to the borders of Mexico. 
In the series of specimens before me I can find none marked male ; they all, however, 
agree very well in color, and it is probable that there is but little difference in the sexes. 
In some specimens there is a white bar across the ends of the greater wing coverts. 
In an immature specimen (8899,) from the Black Hills, the tarsus is distinctly scutellate, but 
the external scales appear thin and very deciduous. It is quite possible that this species forms 
no exception to the rule of the family in respect to the possession of scutellate tarsi, but that the 
scutellae peel off in time, leaving a continuous plate beneath. 
This species is referred by Bonaparte, Cabanis, and other authors to the Myiadestes ohscurus 
of Lafresnaye. This is, however, a different bird, though closely allied, having a brownish olive 
wash on the back and wings not seen in townsendii, and showing only very faintly the rusty 
yellowish bases of the quills. The bill is broader and heavier, but the size, as shown in the 
table of comparative measurements, is considerably smaller. 
The M. unicolor of Sclater, (Pr. Zool. Soc, 1S56, 299, Cordova, Mexico,) is more nearly allied, 
but is smaller, and appears to lack the rusty yellowish bases of the quills. 
■•Since wiiting the preceding paragrapli I have detected scutellae in a young M. toionsendii, which peeled off at touch, leaving 
the tarsi smooth. This fact, therefore, ows the separation from the other genera to be not so great as was supposed. 
41 b 
