SAYORNIS FUSCUS. 
181 
SAYOBNI3 FUSCUS. 
Phoebe. Eridge Pewee. 
Sayonis fuscus Baird, Birds N. A.; 1858, 184. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather robust. Size, medium. Sternum, as given above. Tongue, thin and horny, bifid, but without 
the terminal cilia. Stomach, rather muscular. 
Color. Adult. Above, including upper tail coverts, sooty-brown, darkest on the head, with a tinge of olivaceous on 
all protions excepting top of head. Wings and tail, dark-brown with the outer edges of all the feathers, yellowish-white. 
Both rows of wing coverts, narrowly tipped with white, forming indistinct bars. Beneath, including under wing and tail 
coverts, pale yellowish-white, with the sides, flanks, and an indistinct band across breast, sooty-brown. Bill and feet, 
black. 
Adult in autumn. Darker above than in summer, the wing bars are clearer, the under portions are of a decided sul¬ 
phury yellow, and the dark markings are not as extended. 
Young of the year. More olivaceous above than in the adult stage. The whitish wing bars are replaced by yellowish 
rufous, there is a deeper shade of yellow below, and the sooty-brown markings are olivaceous. 
Nestlings. Much browner above than the young, being overwashed with yellowish-rufous, but the top of the head is 
darker. The wing bars are yellowish-rufous. Beneath, pale yellowish-white with faint indications of brownish on the 
sides. Upper mandible, black, under, brown. Sexes, similar in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
There is little or no difference in plumage, in specimens of the same age and season but there is a slight variation in 
form of the bill as usual in this group. Known from the Wood Pewee by the larger size, black bill which is longer even 
in nestlings, and general browner colors above in all stages, and from other Flycatchers by the characters as given. Dis¬ 
tributed in summer throughout Eastern North America, from Canada at least as far south as South Carolina. Winters in 
the southern section from the Carolinas to Florida and on the Keys. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of twenty-five specimens from New England and Florida. Length, 7‘00; stretch, 11‘41; wing, 
2.66; tail, 2'67; bill, ‘55; tarsus, *70. Longest specimen, 7 - 50; greatest extentofwing, 12 - 60; longestwing, 3 - 82; tail,3*75; 
bill, - 60; tarsus, '75. Shortest specimen, 650; smallest extent of wing, 10 32; shortest wing 2‘40; tail, 2'50; bill, '50; tarsus, 
•65. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed under bridges, buildings, in the shelter of ledges of rocks, upturned trees, or banks of earth. Composed 
of moss and roots lined with fine grass, rootlets, and hair. Dimensions, external diameter, 4 - 50, internal, 2'50. External 
depth, 2-50, internal, T25. 
Eggs, four to six in number, oval in form, creamy-white in color, occasionally dotted with reddish-brown. Dimensions 
from ’75 x '50 to/80 x ‘60. 
HABITS. 
On the thirty-first of December, 1868,1 found myself for the first time, gun in hand, 
in the piny woods of Florida. As this was then, comparatively speaking, an unknown 
section to ornithologists, I was naturally anxious to find what birds occurred there. I had 
not gone far when I saw a Flycatcher perched on the lower branch of a pine, but some 
distance above my head; this I instantly shot, and, upon picking it up, was a little disap¬ 
pointed at finding that it was a Phoebe, for after traveling so far I expected to find some¬ 
thing with which I was not quite so familiar, but later in the day I secured several fine 
birds that I had never seen living before and as I always consider it necessary to actually 
shoot every species, in order to be absolutely sure of their identification, I was conten¬ 
ted for I had proved beyond a doubt that this Flycatcher wintered in Florida. I did not 
