FORK TAILED FLYCATCHER. 
3 
superior tail coverts; the inferior surface of the body, from the base 
of the bill, as well as the under wing and under tail coverts, is pure 
white. The wings are dusky, the coverts being somewhat lighter 
at tip and on the exterior side; the first primary is edged with 
whitish on the exterior web, and is equal in length to the fourth; 
the second primary is longest; the three outer ones have a very 
extraordinary and profound sinus or notch on their inner webs, 
near the tip, so as to terminate in a slender process. The tail is 
very profoundly forked, the two exterior feathers measuring nearly 
ten inches in perfect individuals, whilst the two succeeding are but 
five inches long, and the other feathers become gradually and pro- 
portionably shorter, until those in the middle are scarcely two 
inches in length; the tail is, in fact, so deeply divided, that if the 
two exterior feathers were removed, it would still exhibit a very 
forked appearance. All the tail feathers are black, the exterior 
one each side being white on the remarkably narrow outer web, 
and on the shaft beneath, for nearly three-fourths of its length. 
I cannot agree with those who say that the female is distinguished 
from the other sex by wanting the orange spot on the head, as I 
think we may safely conclude, from analogy, that there is hardly 
any difference between the sexes. The young birds are readily 
recognized, by being destitute of that spot, as well as by having 
the head cinereous, instead of black; the colour of the whole 
upper part of the body is also darker, the tail considerably shorter, 
and the exterior feathers not so much elongated as those of the 
adult. It is proper to remark, that the elongated tail feathers of 
the full grown bird are sometimes very much worn, in consequence 
of the rapidity with which it passes through the bushes. 
Two coloured figures have been given of the Fork-tailed Fly¬ 
catcher, the one by Buffon, which is extremely bad, although the 
rectilinear form of the tail is correctly represented; the other, by 
Vieillot, which has the exterior tail feathers unnaturally curved, 
and notwithstanding it is preferable to Bufforfs figure, yet it is far 
