434 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSEEES — CLAM A TORES. 
tail-feather with white instead of the whole web being white is also a good character. 
Changes of plumage the same as in verticalis; size the same ; bill rather stouter, about 0.85 ; 
tarsus slightly longer, on an average. Southwestern U. S., and southward ; N. to Wyoming 
and Idaho ; abundant in the Rocky Mt. region, there mostly replacing verticalis in the breeding 
season. Nesting and eggs the same. 
372. T. melancho'licus couch'i. (Grr. fxcXayxoXiKos, melagcholikos, Lat. melanchoUcus, melan- 
choly, i. e., atrabilious; fxeXas, fxeXavos, melas, melanos, black; ;^6Xoy, cholos, gall, bile. To 
Lt. D. N. Couch.) Couch's Flycatcher. Very similar to the last; primaries abruptly 
emarginate for a short distance, as in T. voeiferans, and outer web of outer tail-feather not 
white ; but tail dark brown, like the wings, and obviously forked (about 0.50 ; in voeiferans 
the tail quite black, slightly emarginate or nearly even) ; all its feathers with slight pale 
edges, and their shafts pale on the under surface. Yellow of under parts very bright, reaching 
high up on the breast ; throat as well as chin extensively white. Size of the foregoing, and 
changes of plumage coincident. A universally distributed South and Central Am. species, 
of which a slight variety reaches over our Mexican border. 
120. MYIAR'CHUS. (Gr. /xula, muia, a fly; dpx6s, archos, a ruler. Fig. 280, a.) Crested 
Flycatchers. Ash-throated Flycatchers. Eufous-tailed Flycatchers. No 
colored patch on the crown, but head slightly crested by lengthened erectile feathers. Pri- 
maries emarginate. Olivaceous ; more or less yellow below, the throat ash, the primaries 
margined with chestnut, the tail-feathers the same or mostly chestnut — such coloration the 
best mark of the genus. Tail nearly even, if anything rounded, about as long as wings, of 
broad flat feathers with rounded ends. Wings rounded, the tip formed by 2d- 4th quills 
(usually), the 5th shorter, 6th and 1st much shorter. Tarsus about as long as middle toe and 
claw, — if any different, longer. Bill moderate, variable in shape and relative size. Next to 
the characteristic rufous on wings and tail, size is a good clue to this genus among our oliva- 
ceous flycatchers without colored crest; for the Myiarcki excepting M. laivrencii are much 
larger than any others excepting Contopus horealis and C. pertinax. Only one Eastern 
species, but four others in the southwest, requiring nice discrimination. Peculiar, all of them, 
in nesting in holes, and laying eggs scratched and snarled, but chiefly scrawled lengthwise, 
with dark brown, in close and intricate pattern. 
Analysis of Species and Varieties. 
Large : length 8.00 or more. Inner webs of tail-feathers largely rufous. 
Rufous occupying nearly or quite all the inner webs of several lateral tail-feathers . . . . crinitus 373 
Rufous occupying inner webs of same feathers in nearly equal amount with a fuscous stripe of equal 
Avidth throughout. Bill nearly or quite 1.00 cooperi 880 
Rufous occupying inner webs of same feathers in nearly equal amount with a fuscous stripe of 
equal width throughout. Bill about 0.75 erythrocercus 374 
Rufous occupying inner webs of same feathers in greater amount than a fuscous stripe which widens 
at end. Bill very narrow cinerescens 375 
Small: length 7.00 or less. Inner webs of tail-feathers scarcely or not rufous lawrencii 376 
373. M. crini'tus. (Lat. crinitus, haired, i. e., crested; crinis, hair. Fig. 284.) Great 
Crested Flycatcher. ^ 9 > adult : Decidedly olivaceous above, a little browner on head, 
where the feathers have dark centres ; throat and fore breast pure dark ash ; rest of under 
parts bright yellow, the two colors meeting abruptly ; primaries margined on both edges with 
chestnut ; secondaries and coverts edged and tipped with yellowish -white ; tail with all the 
feathers but the central pair chestnut on the whole of the inner web (excepting perhaps a very 
narrow space next the shaft) ; outer web of outer feathers edged with yellowish ; middle 
feathers, outer webs of the rest, and wings except as stated, dusky-brown. The foregoing 
phrases are intended to be chiefly antithetical to those used in describing cinerescens, below. 
No. 375. Other diagnostic points are : bill dark but not quite bhick, pale at base below ; 
stout and comparatively short, hardly or not as long as tarsus, the latter perhaps never 0.90 . 
