SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 
MUSCICAPA FORFICJ1TA. 
Plate II. Fig. 1. 
Muscicapa forficata, Gmel. Syst. I, p. 931, Sp. 22. Lath. hid. p. 485, Sp. 70. Yieill. 
Ois. de l'dim. Sept. I, p. 71. Stephens, Cont. of Shaw’s Zool. XX, p. 413, PI. 3. 
Tyr annus forficatus, Say, in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains , II, p. 224. 
Moucherolle a queue fourchue du Mexique , Buff. Ois. IV, p. 564. 
Gobe-mouche a queue fourchue du Mexique , Buff. PI. Enl. 677 . 
Swallow-tailed Flycatcher , Lath. Syn. II, Part I, p. 356, Sp. 60. 
Philadelphia Museum , No. 6623. 
This rare and beautiful bird is, I believe, now figured from 
nature for the second time; and, as the plate given by BufFon 
conveys but an imperfect idea of its characters, the representation 
in the accompanying engraving will certainly prove the more 
acceptable to naturalists. That author had the merit of publishing 
the first account of this species; and the individual he described, 
was received from that part of Louisiana which borders on Mex¬ 
ico. Neither Latham, Gmelin, nor Vieillot, seem to have had an 
opportunity of examining this bird, as they have evidently drawn 
on BufFon for what they have said relative to it. Hence it appears, 
that the Swallow-tailed Flycatcher has never been obtained from 
the time of BufFon to the period of Major Long’s expedition to 
the unexplored region it inhabits. The specimen before us, which 
is a fine adult male, was shot by Mr. Titian Peale, on the twenty- 
fourth of August, on the Canadian fork of the Arkansaw river. 
Although this bird is very different from the Fork-tailed Fly¬ 
catcher, yet on account of the form of the tail, and the similarity 
of the common name, they are apt to be mistaken for each other; 
