ARKANSAW FLYCATCHER. 
277 ' 
which it deceived the members of Long’s party into a belief 
that they were approaching one of the villages of this animal. 
‘‘ A note, like that of the prairie dog,” (writes Say,) for a 
moment induced the belief that a village of the marmot v/as 
near, but we were soon undeceived by the appearance of the 
beautiful Tyr annus forjicatus in full pursuit of a crow. Not at 
first view recognising the bird, the fine elongated tail plumes 
occasionally diverging in a furcate manner, and again closing 
together, to give direction to the aerial evolutions of the bird, 
seemed like extraneous processes of dried grass, or twigs of a 
tree, adventitiously attached to the tail, and influenced by cur- 
rents of wind. The feathered warrior flew forward to a tree, 
whence, at our too near approach, he descended to the earth, 
at a little distance, continuing at intervals his chirping note. 
This bird seems to be rather rare in this region j and, as the 
very powder within the barrels of our guns was wet, we were 
obliged to content ourselves with only a distant view of it.” 
The range of the swallow-tailed flycatcher appears t > be 
limited to the trans-Mississippian territories, lying on the 
south-western frontier of the United States, more especially 
frequenting the scanty forests, which, with many partial, and 
often total interruptions, extend along the Arkansaw, Cana- 
dian, and Platte rivers, where in some districts they do not seem 
to be very uncommon. 
ARKANSAW FLYCATCHER — MUSCICAPA VERTICALTS. 
Plate II. Fig. 2. 
Tyrannus verticalis, Say, in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, ii. p. 60. — 
Philadelphia Museum, No. 6624. 
TYRANNUS VERTICALTS.— Sky. 
- Muscicapa verticalis, Bonap. Synop. p. 67. 
This bird, brought from the Rocky Mountains by Major 
Long’s exploring party, is so closely allied to many imper- 
fectly described species of the extensive genus to which it be- 
