Form lengthened, but rather robust; bill short, conical, strong; wings
short, rounded, the fourth primary usually longest, but little longer
than the third and fifth; tail long, wide, much rounded at the end;
tarsi and toes strong, compressed. An American genus, comprising several
species of both divisions of this continent.
Pipilo fusca. Swainson. Philos. Mag., 1827, p. 434.
Form large for this genus; bill rather longer than in other species;
tail long, and composed of broad feathers.
Dimensions. Total length (of skin) from tip of bill to end of tail,
about 9 inches; wing, 4⅛; tail, 4⅝ inches.
Colors. Entire upper parts olive-brown, with a rufous tinge on the head,
and ashy on the scapulars and wing-coverts. Nares, circle around the eye
and throat, pale rufous; the latter spotted with black. Breast, sides,
and flanks, cinereous; middle of the abdomen white, with a tinge of
fulvous; under tail-coverts bright fulvous. Quills and tail-feathers
brown, the former edged exteriorly with ashy, the latter with olive.
Bill and feet light. Sexes very nearly alike.
Hab. California and New Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. This bird resembles no other species of its genus, except _Pipilo
Aberti_, Baird, (Stansbury’s Report of a Survey of the Valley of the
Great Salt Lake of Utah, Zoology, p. 325, 1852). From this it differs in
the color of the throat, that of the latter being uniform with the other
inferior parts of the body, and in other characters.
The figure in our plate represents the adult male about two-thirds of
the natural size.
[Illustration: Plate 18
The Scarlet-crowned Flycatcher
Pyrocephalus rubineus (_Boddaert_)]
PYROCEPHALUS RUBINEUS.—Boddaert.
The Scarlet-crowned Flycatcher.
PLATE XVIII.—Adult and Young Males.
This bright-plumaged little bird is a summer visitor to Texas and New
Mexico, in which countries it rears its young, and appears to be an
inhabitant also not only of Mexico, but of nearly the whole of Central
and South America. It has been long known as a bird of the last-named
division of this continent, though but recently ascertained to be a
resident within the limits of the United States, having been first
observed in Texas by Captain J. P. McCown, of the United States Army, in
1850, and announced as an addition to the ornithology of North America,
by Mr. Lawrence, in the Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural
History, V. p. 115. In some interesting notes on the birds of Texas, by
Capt. McCown, published in the same journal, VI. p. 12, we find the
following in reference to the present species:
“This beautiful little Flycatcher is seldom seen. I did not notice over
a dozen of them while in Western Texas. I always found them near the
ponds along the Rio Grande, and generally on a tree or stake near the
water. The only nest I ever found was built upon a _retama_ (a variety
of acacia), over the water, and I was not able to procure it. The female
is quite a plain bird.”
Our friend, Lieut. D. N. Couch, one of the several officers of the Army
who have greatly contributed to the knowledge of the Natural History of
little-explored portions of this country, and the results of whose
observations have most generously been placed at our disposal, met with
this bird in small numbers in Northern Mexico. From many valuable
papers, which will add much to the interest of the present work, and for
which we are indebted to this gentleman, we make the following extract:
“This bird was first seen at Charco Escondido, in Tamaulipas, on the
tenth of March. The male had evidently preceded the female in his
arrival, as the latter was not observed until several weeks afterwards.
Early in the morning, and again about sunset, he came to the artificial
lake that is constructed here for the supplying of water to the
inhabitants, and appeared to be of a very quiet and inoffensive
disposition, usually sitting on the upper branches of the trees,
occasionally uttering a low chirp. Subsequently, it was met with in
Nueva Leon, though I had little opportunity of observing its habits. It
appeared, however, to be in some respects similar in its manners to the
smaller species of the Northern Flycatchers.”
Dr. Henry has also met with the present bird in the vicinity of Fort
Webster, New Mexico. He represents it, however, as of exceedingly rare
occurrence, so far as he has observed, and fully confirms the statements
given above, respecting its partiality for the neighborhood of water.
His first specimen, a male in full plumage, was obtained on the Rio
Miembres, near Fort Webster, in the month of March, 1853.