276 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 



this time also they were wholly silent, and flitted before 

 our path with suspicion and timidity. A week or two 

 after we saw them no more, having retired probably to 

 tropical winter quarters. 



In the month of May, a pair, which I daily saw for 

 three or four weeks, had made a nest on the horizontal 

 branch of an Elm, probably 12 or more feet from the 

 ground. I did not examine it very near, but it aj>- 

 peared externally composed of coarse dry grass. The fe- 

 male, when first seen, was engaged in sitting, and her 

 mate wildly attacked every bird which approached their 

 residence. This harsh chirping note of the male, kept up 

 at intervals, as remarked by Mr, Say, almost resembled 

 the barking of the Prairie Marmot, 'tsh 'tsh Hsh. His 

 flowing, kite-like tail, spread or contracted at will while 

 flying, is a singular trait in his plumage, and render- 

 ed him conspicuously beautiful to the most careless ob- 

 server. 



This fine bird is about 11 inches in length. The upper part of the 

 head and neck is light grey ; back and scapulars dark- cinereous, 

 tinged with reddish-brown; the rump of the same color but inclined 

 to black, upper tail-coverts deep black. Beneath milk white, the 

 flanks tinged with red; the inferior tail-coverts pale rosaceous. 

 Wings brownish black, the upper coverts and secondaries margined 

 externally and at tip with dull whitish; under wing-coverts white, 

 tinged with rose ; axillary feathers above and beneath of a vivid 

 scarlet. The tail very long and deeply forked, of a perfect black, 

 each feather with its terminal margin of a dull whitish tint ; the 3 

 exterior feathers on each side are of a pale rosaceous color, on a con- 

 siderable part of their length from their bases ; the external one is 

 5^ inches long, the 2d and 3d decrease gradually, but the 4th is dis- 

 proportionately shorter ; from this feather there is a gradual decrease 

 to the 6th, which is little more than 2 inches long. Bill and feet 

 blackish. Irids brown. Female nearly similar to the male. 



