354 niSTORY OF THE 



Suborder CLAMATORES. Songless Perching Birds. 



"Sides of the tarsus covered with divided plates or scales variously arranged, 

 its hinder edge blunt. Musical apparatus weak and imperfect, a few or incom- 

 pletely distinguished syringeal muscles (as far as known). Primaries ten (with 

 rare exceptions), the first usually equaling or exceeding the rest." 



Family TYRANNID^. Tykant Flycatcheks. 



"Primaries ten. Bill in typical forms broad, triangular, much depressed, 

 abruptly decurved and notched at tip, with long bristles along gape. Tarsi with 

 scutella extending round the outer face of tarsus from the front to back; some- 

 times divide on the outer side. Bill with culmen nearly as long as the head, or 

 shorter; straight to near the tip, then suddenly bent down into a conspicuous 

 hook, with a notch behind it; jtip of lower jaw also notched. Commissure 

 straight to near the notch; gonys slightly convex. Nostrils oval or rounded in 

 the anterior extremity of the nasal groove, and more or less concealed by lon;i- 

 bristles, which extend from the posterior angle of the jaws along the base of the 

 bill, becoming smaller, but reaching nearly to the median line of the forehead. 

 These bristles with lateral branches at the base. Similar bristles are mixed in 

 the loral feathers and margin the chin. Tarsi short, generally less than middle 

 toe, completely enveloped by a series of large scales, which meet near the pos- 

 terior edge of the inner side, and are separated either by naked skin or by a 

 row of small scales. Sometimes a second series of rather large plates is seen on 

 the posterior face of the tarsus, these, however, usually on the upper extremity 

 only. Basal joint of middle toe united almost throughout to that of the outer 

 toe, but more than half free on the inner side; outer lateral toe rather the longer. 

 Wings and tail variable; first quills always more than three-fourths the second. 

 The outer primaries sometimes attenuated near the tip."* 



Genus MILVULUS Swainson. 



"Bill shorter than the head, and nearly equal to the tarsus. Tail nearly twice 

 as long as the wing, excessively forked; the middle feathers scarcely half the 

 lateral. First primary abruptly attenuated at the end, where it is very narrow 

 and linear. Head with a concealed crest of red." 



Milvulus forficatus (Gmei..). 



SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 

 PLATE XXIII. 



Summer resident; quite common in the southern parts of the 

 State. Arrive the first to middle of May; begin laying the last 

 of May, leave in September. 



B. 123. R. .301. C. 367. G. 149, 108. U. 443. 



Habitat. Eastern Mexico and southwestern prairie districts 

 of United States; north to Indian Territory, southern Kansas 



* Birds of this fly-catching family occasionally eat berries. 



