its normal range is confined to Texas, with adjacent territory on the north and 

 south. The species is admitted to our state list on the authorit)' of Mr. Oliver 

 Davie, who reports a single example said to have been taken near Marietta. 



The Scissor-tail is so named from a habit it has of opening and closing its 

 elongated tail-feathers like the blades of a pair of scissors. These remarkable 

 appendages may possibly serve the bird as balancers, or brakes, in flight, but a 

 more natural explanation would seem to be that they were provided to enable the 

 owner to work off his surplus energies, and to grace his bold sallies after insect 

 prey. The birds are rather quarrelsome, especially among themselves. A fight 

 between four or five males such as one observer reports, must be a spectacular 

 affair — equal to one of those other occasions celebrated in the song of their native 

 land, "When dey's razors a'flyin' troo de air." 



Like the kingbird it prefers the open country to forests, and seems to be best 

 suited with prairies or rolling country with scattered trees on wdiich it can nest. 

 In settled territory it takes kindly to orchards and even gardens in the near vicinity 

 of buildings. While generally a quiet bird that lives on good terms with its 

 neighbors, it displays something of the aggressive spirit of the kingbird in 

 relation to crows and hawks, which it attacks with great vigor when they appear 

 near its nest. 



One of his favorite performances is to fly up and, with rattling wings, exe- 

 cute an aerial seesaw, a line of sharp-angled VVVVVVVV's, helping himself at 

 the short turns by rapidly opening and shutting his long white scissors. x'\s he 

 goes up and down he utters all the while a penetrating scream ka-qucc-ka-qiiee- 

 ka-quee-ka-qnee-ka-quce, the emphasis being given each time at the top of the 

 ascending line. 



Frequently when he is passing along with the even flight of a sober-minded 

 crow and you are quietly admiring the salmon lining of his wings, he shoots 

 rattling into the air, and as you stare after him drops back as suddenly as he rose. 

 He does this apparently because the spirit moves him, as a boy slings a stone at 

 the sky, but fervor is added by the appearance of a rival or an enemy, for he is 

 much like a Tyranniis in his masterful way of controlling his landscape. He will 

 attack caracaras and white-necked ravens, lighting on their backs and giving them 

 vicious blows while screaming in their ears. 



Food : Mostly spiders, beetles and other harmful insects. Less than one per 

 cent useful to man. 



493 



