2 
FORK TAILED FLYCATCHER. 
was presented by Mr. J. Woodcraft, of that town, to Mr. Titian 
Peale, who favoured me with the opportunity of examining it. 
Brisson published the first account of this bird. That we have 
rejected the name given by Linne may appear contrary to our prin¬ 
ciples; but in this instance we certainly have no option, inasmuch 
as the same name has been very properly retained by Wilson, 
agreeably to Brisson, for the Lanius tyrannus of Linne. Had 
Linne himself included them both in the same genus, he would 
doubtless have retained that specific name for the Kingbird, which 
is unquestionably a Jffuscicapa and not a Lanius. As the King¬ 
bird is a very abundant species, known to every zoological reader 
by the name of tyrannus , it is obvious that less inconvenience w ill 
be produced by changing the name of an almost unknown species, 
than would result from altering that of one with which we are so 
familiar. We have therefore adopted Vieillot’s specific name of 
sarana, taken by that author from Montbeillard, who, in Buffon’s 
work, thereby endeavoured to commemorate this bird’s habit of 
frequenting inundated savannas. Naturalists who separate Ty¬ 
rannus from Jfluscicapa generically, disagree with respect to the 
arrangement of this species. For ourselves, we consider the for¬ 
mer as a sub-genus of Jfluscicapa, including the larger species, 
among which our Fork-tailed Flycatcher must be placed. 
This species is fourteen inches long, its tail measuring nearly ten; 
the extent from the tip of one wing to that of the other is fourteen 
inches. The bill is somewhat more slender and depressed at base 
than that of the Kingbird, and, as well as the feet, is black. The 
irides are brown. The upper part of the head, including the 
cheeks and superior origin of the neck, is velvet-black. The fea¬ 
thers of the crown are somewhat slender, elevated, and of a yellow- 
orange colour at base, constituting a fine spot, not visible when they 
are in a state of repose; the remaining part of the neck above and 
the back are grayish-ash; the rump is of a much darker grayish- 
ash, and gradually passes into black, which is the colour of the 
