Western Kingbird

SCI Name:  Tyrannus verticalis
Protonym:  Tyrannus verticalis Exped.RockyMt.[James]Phila.ed. 2 p.60,note
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Tyrannidae / Tyrannus
Taxonomy Code:  weskin
Type Locality:  near La Junta, Colorado.
Author:  Say
Publish Year:  1822
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

TYRANNUS
(Tyrannidae; Ϯ Eastern Kingbird T. tyrannus) Based on "Le Tyran.    Tyrannus" of Brisson 1760: "Tandis que la femelle couve, le mâle chasse d'auprès de son nid tous les Oiseaux; même les Faucons & les Aigles." (see tyrannus ●); "NEUVIÈME ORDRE.  Bec échancré.   24. PIE-GRIÈCHE. Lanius.   ...   25.TYRAN. Tyrannus. {Le bec long, droit, et garni de soies à sa base.    26. GOBE-MOUCHE. Muscicapa.   ...   27. MOUCHEROLLE. Muscivora" (de Lacépède 1799); "Tyrannus Lacepède, 1799, Tabl. Méth. Mamm. Ois., p. 5. Type, by tautonymy, Lanius tyrannus Linnaeus." (Traylor in Peters 1979, VIII, 221). The tyrants, pittas, broadbills and their allies form a very distinct group and should, perhaps, be separated from other passerines in a new order Subosciniformes.
Var. Tirannus, Tiranus, Tryannus.
Synon. Despotes, Dioctes, Drymonax, Laphyctes, Melittarchus, Milvulus, Muscivora, Myiocapta, Satellus, Semnarchus, Tolmarchus.

tyrannus
L. tyrannus  tyrant  < Gr. τυραννος turannos  tyrant.
● ex “Tyran à queue fourchue” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Tyrannus savana).
● “The courage of this little bird is singular. He pursues and puts to flight all kinds of birds that come near his station, from the smallest to the largest, none escaping his fury” (Catesby 1731); "43. LANIUS.  ...  Tyrannus.  4. L. vertice nigro: stria longitudinali fulva.  Muscicapa corona rubra. Catesb. car. I. p. 55. t. 55.  Pica americana cristata. Frisch. av. 4. t. 62.  Habitat in America septentrionali.  Color obscure cinereus, abdomine albo." (Linnaeus 1758)  (Tyrannus).

verticalis
Late L. verticalis  crowned, of the head  < L. vertex, verticis  crown of the head.
● ex “Ash-bellied Creeper” of Latham 1787 (Cyanomitra).