_ , ,, _. .Auk XIY,, Apr,, 1897 , $/■%'?• 
Probable First Description of Empidonax flaviventris. — It would seem 
unlikely that two such common birds as the Least and the Yellow-bellied 
Flycatcher could have slipped through the fingers of Wilson, Nuttall, and 
Audubon, and remained to be discovered by the Messrs. Baird in 1843. Of 
the two, the Yellow-bellied is the brightest colored and best marked in 
comparison with the Small Green-crested — the only one of the three 
which was characterized in Wilson’s time ; both Traill’s and the Least 
being less likely than the Yellow-bellied to be discriminated from the 
Green-crested in those times. I find in Nuttall a notice which, it seems 
to me, can hardly be anything else than an indication of E. flaviventris. 
This is as follows, with italics for the most significant phrases : 
“ Note. We are acquainted with a third small species [of flycatcher] 
allied to the present [ Tyrannula pusilla Sw.] and acadica, but distinguish- 
able by the superior brightness of its plumage ; being olive-green above 
and on the flanks. Rump, and beneath the wings almost sulphur-yellow , 
with a brightish bar also on the wings. This species does not appear to 
migrate much to the north of New York State.” Nutt., Man., orig. ed., 
Vol. II, 1834, App., p. 568. 
Nuttall is here speaking of no imaginary bird, ,and not compiling a 
notice from somebody else. He knows such a bird, and he describes it at 
first hand — perhaps from memory, perhaps from observation in life with- 
out a specimen; but at any rate, his bird is a fact, and as such must be 
accounted for. He is also dealing with a true Flycatcher — not with any 
Warbler, or Vireo, or even Fly-catching Warbler of his genus Sylvania 
all of which he is perfectly able to discriminate from any species of 
“ Muscicapa” or “ Tyrannula .” In the orig. ed., I, 1832, he has the 
Phoebe, the Wood Pewee, the Olive-sided, and the Small Green-crested, all 
pat and by themselves, showing that he understands this group as some- 
thing apart from Warblers, etc. I11 the Appendix to his Vol. II, 1834, 
when he had got hold of the Fauna Boreali-Americana, he adds to his list of 
true Flycatchers Tyrannula pusilla Sw., and Tyrannula richardsonii Sw., 
between which two species he interpolates the ‘ note ’ I have just cited. 
This fixes the position of his new bird as a ‘ Tyrannuline,’ and I do not 
see what else it can be than Empidotiax flaviventris ; the description is a 
fairly good one, and certainly fits flaviventris better than it does any 
other species. Nuttall gives no name to his new bird, and in fact cancels 
his ‘ note ’ in his 2d ed., 1840, where the case drops out of sight altogether ; 
so that no nomenclatural question is raised. But this fugitive ‘ note,’ 
tucked away in the appendix to his Water Bird volume of 1834, and then 
disappearing seems to embody a curious bit of early history, worth 
pausing a moment to consider. — Elliott Coues, Washington , D. C. 
