278 
ARKANSAW FLYCATCHER. 
longs, that ornithologists, at first sight, may very reasonably 
doubt its pretensions to rank as a new species. But, notwith- 
standing any doubt that may be produced by its similarity to 
others, it is certainly an addition to the already numerous ca- 
talogue of flycatchers. 
The total length of the Arkansaw flycatcher is eight inches. 
The bill is similar to that of the crested flycatcher, but is more 
rounded above, and more abruptly inflected at tip, being of 
a blackish colour, as well as the fee.t. The head above, and 
nucha, are pure pale plumbeous; the crown has a restricted 
bright orange spot in the middle, invisible when the feathers 
are at rest ; there is a dusky spot between the bill and eyes. 
The cervix and back are pale plumbeous, tinged with oliva- 
ceous, and deepening on the rump almost to blackish, which 
is the colour of the superior tail-coverts. The chin is whitish ; 
the throat and upper part of the breast are of the same colour 
as the head, but paler; the remaining under surface, inclu- 
ding the inferior wing and tail-coverts, is yellow. The wings 
are brown, the secondaries being margined exteriorly with 
whitish ; the inner webs of the primaries are whitish towards 
the base, and near the tips they are narrowed ; the first is re- 
markably so, being almost falciform. The tail is of a deep 
brown black colour, and very slightly emarginated ; the exte- 
rior feather is white on the outer web, the shaft being white 
on the exterior half, and brown on the interior. 
Say first described and named this bird in the second volume 
of the work above quoted ; and he remarks that it is allied to the 
Tyrannus griseus and Tyrannus sulphuratus of Vieillot. There 
are many species for which the Arkansaw flycatcher might more 
readily be mistaken ; of these we may mention the crested fly- 
catcher [Muscicapa crinita)^ so well described and figured by 
Wilson in his second volume ; and particularly the Muscicapa 
ferox^ of Gmelin, a South American bird, the description of 
* This bird had been incorrectly considered by Vieillot, in his Natural History 
of North American Birds, as identical with the Muscicapa crinita, but, after- 
wards perceiving it to be a distinct species, he named it Tyrannus ferox, A spe- 
