194 EEPOET OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



442 Muscivora tyrannus (Linnaeus). 

 Fork- tailed Flycatcher. 



Adults.— Liength, 12-14. Wing, 4.10-4.75. Tail, 9-10. Above, bluisli-gray ; 

 head, black, with a central yellow spot ; under parts, white ; wings, dusky ; 

 tail, black, outermost feathers with outer web white for basal half. Both this 

 and the following are remarkable for the very long, forked tail, more than twice 

 the length of the body. 



This tropical bird which does not normally come farther north than 

 Southern Mexico and the lesser Antilles, has strangely enough been 

 taken three times in the State of N"ew Jersey. The first was obtained 

 near Bridgeton, in the first week of December, presumably about 1820,^ 

 and was presented by Mr. J. Woodcraft, of that town, to Titian Peale. 

 The second specimen was shot by Audubon, a few miles below Camden, 

 in the end of Jtme, 1832.^ The last was taken near Trenton, in au- 

 tumn, 1900, according to Dr. C. C. Abbott, and was mounted in a 

 store at the corner of Broad and Liberty streets, Trenton.^ 



One cannot but think that these birds might have been caged speci- 

 mens which escaped from vessels coming up the Delaware. 



443 Muscivora forficata (Gmelin). 



Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. 



Adults.— Ijength, 12-15. Wing, 4.40-5.15. Tail, 7-10. Head, neck and 

 breast, pale pearl-gray, tinged with bufE and pink on the back, passing into 

 black on the upper tail-coverts ; a spot of vermilion in the middle of the crown 

 and a tuft of vermilion feathers on each side of the breast ; under tail-coverts 

 and base of outer tail feathers, pale salmon-pink ; tips of two outer tail feathers 

 and all of the others, black ; wings, dusky ; coverts and tertials edged with 

 grayish-white. 



A very rare straggler from the Southwest (Texas and Mexico). 

 One specimen was obtained by Dr. C. C. Abbott, on Crosswicks mea- 

 dows, five miles below Trenton, April 15th, 1872, and is now in the 

 Academy of Sciences, Salem, Massachusetts.* 



^ Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith., I., p. 1. 

 ^ Audubon, Ornith. Biog. 



* Babson, Birds of Princeton, p. 56. 



* Amer. Nat. VI., p. 367. 



