SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 
275 
SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER.— MUSCICAPA FOR- 
FICATA — Plate II. Fig. 1. 
Muscicapa forficata, Gmel. Syst. i. p. 931, sp. 22. Lath. Ind. p. 485. sp. 70. 
Vieill. Ois. de VAm. Sep. i. p. 71. Stephens, Cont. of Shaw's Zool. xx. p. 413, 
pi. 3 Tyrannus forficatus, Say, in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, 
ii. p. 224. — MoucEeroUe a queue fourchue du Mexique, Buff. Ois. iv. p. 564. — 
Gobe-mouclie a queue fourcbue du Mexique, Buff. PI. Enl. 677. — Swallow-tailed 
Flycatcher, Lath. Syn. ii. part i. p. 356. sp. 50. — Philadelphia Museum, No. 
6623. 
MIL VUL US FORFICA T f/5 .— Swainson. 
Muscicapa forficata, Bonap. Synop. p. 67. 
This rare and beautiful bird is, I believe, now figured from 
nature for the second time ; and, as the plate given by Buffon 
convej^s but an imperfect idea of its characters, the represen- 
tation in the accompanying engraving wull certainly prove the 
more acceptable to naturalists. That author had the merit 
of publishing the first account of this species; and the in- 
dividual he described was received from that part of Louisi- 
ana which borders on Mexico. Neither Latham, Gmelin, 
nor Vieillot, seem to have had an opportunity of examining 
this bird, as they have evidently drawn on Buffon for what 
they have said relative to it. Hence it appears that the swal- 
low-tailed flycatcher has never been obtained from the time of 
Buffon to the period of Major Long’s expedition to the unex- 
plored region it inhabits. The specimen before us, which is a 
fine adult male, was shot by Mr Titian Peale, on the 24th of 
August, on the Canadian fork of the Arkansaw river. 
Although this bird is very different from the fork-tailed fly- 
catcher, yet, on account of the form of the tail, and the simi- 
larity of the common name, they are apt to be mistaken for 
each other, and, when both are immature, some caution is re- 
quired to avoid referring them to the same species. Notwith- 
standing this similarity, some authors have placed the fork- 
tailed flycatcher in their genus Tyrannus., and the present 
