SAY’S FLYCATCHER.
MUSCICJIPJ1 >s£m.
Plate H. Fig.
Philadelphia Museum, NibS P ^ ^ .
We now introduce into the Fauna of the United'^States al-f^fjcies
which is either^aMfori-flescript‘. <i^rairev^f!al“Ras.^eenf iirLpi:o.p>er|y
named; and I dedicate’ it' to my friend Thomas Say, a n’attiMlqsh^of
whom America'may Justly be proud, antfro^rafltalents’and’knowledge
arVonlj <<pialkd by his modesty. ■' The specimui imw lnliiii
us is a male, shot by Mr.' T. Peale, on the seventeenth of July, .hear
the Arkansaw river, about tweftty^miles from-the Rocky Mountains.
.We cannot" be perfectly sufe that Wis' Flycatcher, nksyriot hereto-
forp'*'heen iced1'/siiiee'we* find in'the hooks, two short arid'unessential
descriptions which might be”supposed Ui'mikcatc^t^ One of
these is the Muscicapa obscurd of Latham, (Dusky’ Flycatcher oisMs’
Synopsis,)Mirom the Sandwieh Islands; but, besides the difference of’
the'tail feathers, described as acute in that bird^ tl^lrichMtJSlnecides
against its identity with ours. The other description is that o£;ri-bird
from Cayenne, the Muscicapa obscura' of Vieillot,* given ||g | that
author as very distinct from Latham’s, although he has applied the
same name to it, no doubt inadvertently. This may possibly Be our
b ird ; but, even in this case; the name we have chosen will necessarily
be- retimed, as that di'oWcurd attaches to Latham’s Species’ by
the fight of priority.
This Flycatcher strongly resembles the common Pewee (Muscicapa
fused}, but differs from that familiar bird by the very remarkable
Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. XXI, p. 451.
form», of, the Mjljpr h w . f i airl li c ƒ{) hiftyi gc, which verges above
Ilk cinnamon-bi-OMifm»m.l( ai| off gteenisM; and beneath is) cinereous
and rufous. insteudM®\Q I owish?5Cny06nsand by the proportional
length of' the prim ary‘ffa^^'i’NVtl^firsk.heing.longer than the sixth
in If is sliottcBf hi lhe Pewee.
1 hti foffllkngtlifof K^v s< riV< at/ Ik rik stvtn inches. The bill is
longfc'sPBaigbl.. and tm^ubper mandible is
b l^ iki«jB|fl5Swit \ cry, slightly emarginated; the» lower mandible is
utifelaj.'ilwifeedt ap’d pafe horn %yp%’;cm/the disk.’ The feet are
blackish, llie lifjftlcj» .iyv mo\\ ri. <■ .HUuA'guit r/al; iploui dfr I he Whole
upperMM® tS1 uulf cinnamon-brown, darker-oStne head; the plumage
.al-Ja^c fyof a lead oomunv.; The throat and breast are of the same
dull cinnamon mpt, gradually pavsuigjnlo naM.rifpus towards the
belly, whi< b*iy,cntirifLv^oii ura[mCtV^L® ini; "Orfe undcri wing- coverts
are v \ t i n n e d with, rufous,, , «3n|e. primaries are dusky,
tttff^dfe;’^itte‘Cinnamonj and having.If Jinsiff ai$^ eodsiderably
paler beneath. Tin Mb' si pr mrarn'M^ a ipiai teu oh an inch* snorter
than th e ,k^ttd»wliLclii#i$iCearly as. long, as’ the third; the third is
JfongeskL the fourth and fifth gradually (fecre.aso, and', sixth i|i
decidedly shorter than the first. ■(> The tail is, hardly. emargiriated,
and ofeS| blackish-brow n
We know nothing nabits o i this Flycatcher, except what
has been communicated by Mr. t'fePfe.sdei from his manuscript» ruffes.
The bird had a, xtesj in. July^ the time when i&was, obtained; its
voice* is. somewhat different from that|Q& the Pewee; and first called
attention to ife'ries^ vfeldc^was built,on a&rfe&. and" consisted chiefly
of jribss andftGm^.with a, few; blades of dried grass occasionally interwoven.
The young birds,were, at that season, jtist ready to. fly.
VOL. I.—F