106 TYRANNIDZ. 
2. Milvulus forficatus. 
Muscicapa forficata, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 931°. 
Milvulus forficatus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 204°; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 279°; Baird, Mex. 
Bound. Surv., Zool., Birds, i. p.7*; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 121°; Cab. & Heine, Mus. 
‘Hein. ii. p. 79°; Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 1147; Cab. J. f. Orn. 1861, p. 252°; Dresser, Ibis, 
1865, p. 472°; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 309*°; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. 1. 
p. 556"; Lawr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. ix. p. 116”; Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 28"; Salvin, 
Ibis, 1872, p. 318"; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 311”; Sennett, Bull. U.S. 
Geol. Surv. iv. p. 30", v. p. 40117; Nutt. & Ridgw. Pr. U. 8. Nat. Mus. vi. pp. 374°, 384” ; 
Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 155°. 
Supra griseus, dorso medio aut ochraceo aut roseo nonnunquam lavato; capite summo crista parva coccinea 
ornato ; alis nigricantibus, tectricibus et secundariis albido limbatis; cauda elongata, rectricibus sex mediis 
nigris, duabus utrinque albis rosaceo tinctis et nigro terminatis: subtus griseo-albus, axillaribus rosaceo- 
rubris, hypochondriis crisso et subalaribus eodem colore lavatis: rostro corneo, pedibus nigris. Long. tota 
14-0, alee 4:8, caudee rect. med. 2:6, rect. lat. 8°8, tarsi 0°75, rostri a rictu-1-0. 
Q mari similis, sed cauda multo breviore. (Descr. maris et femine ex Tampico, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Norra America, Lower Mississippi valley!® and Texas? 1617.—Mexico, San Antonio, 
San Augustin, and Vaqueria in Nuevo Leon (F. Armstrong), Tamaulipas (Couch *), 
Soto la Marina, Tampico (W. B. Richardson), Hacienda de los Atlixcos, Otrobanda 
(F. D. G.), Vera Cruz (Richardson), Huehuetlan (F. Ferrari-Perez®°), Chihuitan 
and Tehuantepec city (Sumichrast 1%); Briviso Honpuras, Cayo (Blancaneaua) ; 
Guatemala (Skinner®), Coban, San Gerénimo, Duefias and near Guatemala city, 
Sta. Isabel near the port of San José (0. S. & F. D. G.); Honpuras, Langui 
(Taylor’); Nicaragua, Sucuyd}®, San Juan del Sur ® (Nutting), Chinandega 
(Henshaw coll.) ; Costa Rica (von Frantzius® ° , Carmiol). 
Milvulus forficatus is probably more abundant in the prairies of Texas and the 
lower Rio Grande valley than elsewhere; but it appears to be almost equally common 
over the eastern districts of Mexico and thence to British Honduras and Guatemala, 
being generally distributed in the open parts of the latter country. Its southern 
extension includes Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where, however, it is rare. 
At Langui in Honduras G. C. Taylor says VW. forficatus was very plentiful ’. 
Numbers of birds would here assemble in the evening on the tops of trees, where 
they would remain till nearly dark and then fly off to the woods. 
In Mexico it is chiefly a denizen of the eastern low-lands, but occasional individuals 
ascend the mountains as high as 4000 feet 4. At the Isthmus of Tehuantepec it crosses 
to the Pacific side of the cordillera and thence spreads along both sides of the moun- 
tains of Guatemala, and is also found in open places up to an elevation of 5000 feet 
near the city of Guatemala, occurring at the same time near the sea-level at Santa 
Isabel, a few miles from the port of San José de Guatemala. 
We are not aware if it remains to breed in Central America or Southern Mexico ; 
but in the Rio Grande valley it does so in numbers, building in the mesquite trees, and 
laying pure white eggs blotched with large spots of dark red. 
