Читать книгу A Synopsis of the Birds of North America - John James Audubon - Страница 44

Bill of moderate length, depressed at the base, rapidly attenuated, becoming very slender toward the end; upper mandible with the ridge distinct, the tip extremely narrow and deflected, the edges overlapping, the notch distinct, but very small; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length, the ridge narrowed towards the end, the edges inclinate, the tip acute. Nostrils oblong, exposed. Head ovate; neck short; body slender. Feet of moderate length, tarsus longer than the middle toe, extremely slender, with the upper scutella indistinct; toes very small, extremely compressed; hind toe proportionally very large; outer adherent at the base. Claws well arched, extremely compressed, laterally grooved, acute. Plumage very soft and blended. Wings of moderate length, concave; the first quill about a third of the length of the second, fourth longest, third and fifth little shorter. Tail long, slender, much rounded.

70. 1. Culicivora cœrulea, Lath. Blue-grey Gnat-catcher

Plate LXXXIV. Male and Female.

Upper parts bright blue, deeper on the head, paler on the tail-coverts; a narrow black band on the forehead, extending over the eyes; wings brownish-black, margined with blue, some of the secondaries with bluish-white; tail glossy black, the outer feather on each side nearly all white, the next with its terminal half, and the third with its tip of that colour; lower parts greyish-white. Female similar, but with the tints duller, and the black band on the head wanting.

Male, 41/2, 61/2.

From Texas northward. Abundant. Migratory.

Blue-grey Flycatcher, Muscicapa cœrulea, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. ii. p. 164.

Sylvia cœrulea, Bonap. Syn. p. 85.

Blue-grey Sylvan Flycatcher, Muscicapa cœrulea, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 297.

Blue-grey Flycatcher, Muscicapa cœrulea, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 431.