8i6 SCA URIE—SCIZZORS- TAIL 



female Scaup-Duck can be readily distinguished from the Dunbird 

 or female Pochard by her broad white face. 



SCAUPJE or SCOPtEY. In Orkney the young of the Herring- 

 GuLL is so-called (Niell, Tour through Orkney and Shetland, p. 201), 

 and the name is pei-haps elsewhere applied (Montagu, Suppl. Orn. 

 Did.) to that of some other species. 



SCHIZOGNATH^, Prof. Huxley's second Suborder of Cari- 

 NATiE, composed of six groups — Charadriomorph^e, Gerano- 



MORPH^, CECOMORPHiE, SPHENISCOMORPH^, AlECTOROMORPH^ 



and Peristeromorph^ — in all of which the vomer, however 

 variable, always tapers to a point anteriorly, while behind it 

 embraces the basisphenoidal rostrum between the palatals ; but 

 neither these nor the pterygoids are borne by its posterior divergent 

 ends. The maxillopalatals are usually elongated, and, bending 

 backward along their inner edge, leave a fissure (whence the name 

 of the Suborder) between the vomer and themselves. In addition 

 to these characters, the birds composing this group often want 

 intrinsic muscles in the lower larynx, and never possess more than 

 a single pair of them. With the exception of Podicipes (Grebe) all 

 the genera which he had examined have two carotid arteries {Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. 1867, pp. 426-435; 456-460). 



SCHIZORHINAL, the epithet bestowed by Garrod {Proc. Zool. 

 .Soc. 1873, p. 36), in his first and crude systematic arrangement of 

 Birds, on what appeared to him to be a " Suborder," in contra- 

 distinction to those possessing what he called the Holorhinal 

 structure. This view was virtually abandoned by him within little 

 more than twelve months (op. cit. 1874, pp. 111-123); but that 

 fact has not hindered some writers from continuing to use these 

 terms as if they had any taxonomic signification. 



SCIZZORS-TAIL, Milvulus forficatus, one of the most beautiful 

 of the Tyrannidx (Tyrant), so called in some of the Southern 

 States of North America from its habit of opening and closing its 

 long and deeply-forked tail like the blades of a pair of scissors. 

 It is only an accidental wanderer to the Northern or even the 

 Middle States, but is or was abundant on the prairies of Texas, and 

 inhabits Mexico and Central America as far as Costa Rica. With- 

 out possessing any tints that may be called brilliant in its plumage, 

 the delicate harmony of lavender-grey and rose-red that it displays 

 — and it is very fond of the display — as well as its graceful form 

 combine to make its appearance most engaging, and almost justify 

 its being known, according to Mr. Dresser (This, 1865, p. 472), in 

 Western Texas as the " Bird-of-Paradise " — for its long tail (10 

 inches) helps to give it that name, and its habits render it con- 

 spicuous. It is of a fearless disposition and quarrelsome towards 

 its fellows, though it will join with them in playful and lofty 



