443. SciSSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 



PERCHING BIRDS 

 Muscivora forficata. 



Creamy white 



■ I tailed Fl catch* 



Range.— Mexico, north through Texas to 

 southern Kansas; accidental in other parts of 

 the country. 



The Scissor-tail or "Texan Bird of Paradise" 

 is the most beautiful member of this interest- 

 ing family, including its long tail, often 10 

 inches in length and forked for about 6 inches. 

 this Flycatcher reaches a 

 length of about 15 inches. 

 s~ It is pale grayish above, 



*0* » fading into whitish below, 



f ., and has scarlet linings to 



| > • * the wings, and a scarle! 



\ • «-'.«» ' crown pal cli. They are 



one of tlic most abundant 

 of the breeding birds in 

 Texas, placing their iarge 

 roughly built nests in all kinds of trees and 

 any elevation, but averaging between ten and 

 fifteen feet above ground. The nests are built 

 of rootlets, grasses, weeds and trash of all 

 kinds, such as paper, rags, string, etc. The 

 interior is generally lined with plant fibres, 

 hair or wool. They lay from three to five, and rarely six eggs with a creamy 

 white ground color, more or less spotted and blotched with reddish brown, lilac 

 and gray, the markings generally being most numerous about the larger end. 

 They average in size about .90 x .67. Data. — Corpus Christi, Texas, May 18, 

 1899. 6 eggs. Nest of moss, vines, etc., on small trees in open woods near town. 

 Collector, Frank B. Armstrong. 



i 1 1. Kingbird. Tyrannus tyrannus. 



Range. Temperate North America, breeding 

 from the Gulf of Mexico north to New Bruns- 

 wick. Manitoba and British Columbia: rare off 

 the Pacific coast. 



This common Tyrant Flycatcher is very 

 abundant in the eastern parts of its range. 

 Tinw are one of the most pugnacious and cour- 

 ageous of birds attacking and driving away any 

 leathered creature to which they take a dis 

 like, regardless of Size. 

 Before and during the 

 nesting season, their 

 sharp, nerve racking clal 

 ter is kept up all day long, 

 and with redoubled vigor 



when anyone approaches 



their nesting site. They 



nest in any kind of a tree, 



in fields or open woods, and al anj heighl 



from the ground, being found on fence rails 



w if > i iii two feel of the ground or in the tops of 



pine:, 70 or SO feel above tl arth. Nearlj 



, \er\ orchard will be found to contain one or 



28J 



K in; 



