280 
SAY’S FLYCATCHER. 
properly named ; and I dedicate it to my friend Thomas Say, 
a naturalist of whom America may justly be proud, and whose 
talents and knowledge are only equalled by his modesty. The 
specimen now before us is a male, shot by Mr T. Peale, on 
the 17th of July, near the Arkansaw river, about twenty miles 
from the Rocky Mountains. 
We cannot be perfectly sure that this flycatcher has not 
heretofore been noticed, since we find in the books, two short 
and unessential descriptions which might be supposed to indi- 
cate it. One of these is ^\eMuscicapa ohscura of Latham, (dusky 
flycatcher of his Synopsis,) from the Sandwich Islands; but, 
besides the difiPerence of the tail-feathers, described as acute in 
that bird, the locality decides against its identity with ours. 
The other description is that of a bird from Cayenne, the 
Muscicapa ohscura of Vieillot,* given by that author as very 
distinct from Latham’s, although he has applied the same 
name to it, no doubt inadvertently. This may possibly be our 
bird ; but, even in this case, the name we have chosen will 
necessarily be retained, as that of ohscura attaches to La- 
tham’s species by the right of priority. 
This flycatcher strongly resembles the common pewee 
(Muscicapa fusca), but differs from that familiar bird by the 
very remarkable form of the bill ; by the colour of the plumage, 
which verges above on cinnamon brown, instead of greenish, 
and beneath is cinereous and rufous, instead of yellowish 
ochreous; and by the proportional length of the primary 
feathers, the first being longer than the sixth in our bird, 
whereas it is shorter in the pewee. 
The total length of Say’s flycatcher is seven inches ; the 
bill is long, straight, and remarkably flattened; the upper 
mandible is blackish, and but very slightly emarginated ; the 
lower mandible is much dilated, and pale horn colour on the 
disk. The feet are blackish ; the irides are brown. The ge- 
neral colour of the whole upper parts is dull cinnamon brown, 
* Nouv, Diet. iVHist, Nat. xxi. p. 451. 
