S. sayus. Brownish-ashy, the tail and upper tail-coverts black; abdomen and crissum deep ochraceous. Hab. Western Province of United States, and whole of Mexico.
Sayornis nigricans, Bonap.
BLACK PEWEE.
Tyrannula nigricans, Swainson, Syn. Birds Mex. Taylor’s Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 367.—Newberry, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route, Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, IV, 1857, 81. Muscicapa nigricans, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 302, pl. cccclxxiv.—Ib. Birds Am. I, 1840, 218, pl. lx. Tyrannus nigricans, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 326. Myiobius nigricans, Gray. Myiarchus nigricans, Cabanis, Tschudi Fauna Peruan. 1844-46, 153 (Peru). Sayornis nigricans, Bonap. Comptes Rendus XXVIII, 1854, notes Orn. 87.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 183.—Heerm. X, S, 38.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 319. Aulanax nigricans, Cabanis, Cab. Journ. für Ornith. IV, Jan. 1856, 2 (type of genus).—Ib. M. H. II, 68. Muscicapa semiatra, Vigors, Zoöl. Beechey Voy. 1839, 17.
Sayornis nigricans.
3906
Sp. Char. Wings rounded; second, third, and fourth longest; first rather shorter than sixth. Tarsi with a second row of scales behind. The head and neck all round, forepart and sides of the breast, dark sooty-brown; the rest of the upper parts similar, but lighter; faintly tinged with lead-color towards the tail. The middle of the breast, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts white; some of the latter, with the shafts and the centre, brown. The lower wing-coverts grayish-brown, edged with white. Wings dark brown; the edges of secondary coverts rather lighter; of primary coverts dull white. Edge of the exterior vane of the first primary and of secondaries white. Tail dark brown, with the greater part of the outer vane of the exterior tail-feather white; this color narrowing from the base to the tip. Bill and feet black. The tail rounded, rather emarginate; feathers broad; more obliquely truncate than in sayus. The bill slender; similar to that of S. fuscus. Length, nearly 7 inches; wing, 3.60; tail, 3.45.
Hab. California coast (Umpqua Valley, Oregon, Newberry), and across by valley of Gila and Upper Rio Grande to New Leon, and south; Mazatlan. Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 383); Cordova (Scl. 1856, 296); Vera Cruz, temp. and alp. regions, breeding (Sum. M. B. Soc. I, 557); W. Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 60).
The female appears to differ only in the smaller size. A young bird from San Francisco has two bands of rusty on the wing; the shoulders and hinder part of the back tinged with the same.
Habits. Within our limits the Black Flycatcher has a distribution very nearly corresponding with that of Myiarchus cinerascens. It is found from Oregon and California on the Pacific coast, to the valley of the Rio Grande, and thence south throughout Mexico. It also occurs as a resident in Guatemala. Specimens in the Smithsonian Museum are from various parts of Mexico, from New Mexico, and California.