The Migration of Flycatchers 



FIRST PAPER 



Compiled by Professor W. W. Cooke, Chiefly from Data 

 in the Biological Survey 



With drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruce Horsfall 



READERS of Bird-Lore who are familiar with Professor Cooke's contri- 

 butions on the migrations of Warblers and of Thrushes will be gratified 

 to learn that with the kind permission of the Biological Survey this valu- 

 able series will be continued with a similar treatment of the Flycatchers. The 

 unrivalled amount of data which Professor Cooke has at his disposal gives to 

 these papers a value and interest readily appreciated by all field students of 

 bird-life. — Ed. 



SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER 



The winter home of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is in Central America and 

 Mexico, from which region it enters the United States in March. The average 

 date of arrival near San Antonio, Texas, is March 21, and the earHest, March 16, 

 1904. The bird is one of the most uniform species in its dates of arrival from year 

 to year. During fifteen years of observation, it reached San Antonio for five years 

 on March 21, and for eleven years within two days of this average date. In 

 southern Texas the average date of arrival is March 18, the earliest being March 

 12, 1898. The average date in northern Texas is March 26, the earliest being 

 March 21, 1876. Thus, the species, on the average, is only eight days in crossing 

 the great state of Texas, or an average of more than fifty miles per day — a speed 

 almost twice as great as the average of birds in the southern United States. 



The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is one of the few birds whose progress can be 

 measured in this way, from southern Texas to the northern part of the state, for 

 the reason that it migrates from its winter home to its breeding range by a land 

 route through Mexico, while some other species that fly across the Gulf of Mexico 

 to Texas appear in northern Texas as early as they are seen along the Rio Grande. 



The Scissor-tail is most common in eastern Texas, fairly common in southern 

 Oklahoma, and ranges north to southern Kansas. The journe}- from Texas to 

 Kansas is usually made during the first ten days of April. 



The return movement begins in August, and the greater numljer leave the 

 United States in September. The last bird at Winfield, Kansas, was seen Sep- 

 tember, 26 1902. In northern Texas, the average is October 11, the latest, 

 October 18, 1888. In central Texas, the average is October 18, the latest, October 

 20, 1892. 



A few enter Louisiana, and they have been noted as arriving at New Orleans, 

 March 25, 1894; the latest record being near Kenner, Louisiana, October 6, 1889. 



The Scissor-tail is one of the greatest of wanderers. While its regular home 



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