36 BAYLOR UNIVERSITY BULLETIN 



257. Stellola calliope. Calliope Hummingbird. 



Heloise's Hummingbird {Atthis heloisa) was formerly included in 

 the A. 0. U. Check-List on the strength of the report of the capture of 

 a supposed female specimen at El Paso in 1851 (Baird, Brewer and Ridg- 

 way, Land Birds, Vol. II, p. 465, etc.). Atthis heloisa has since been 

 dropped from the list of North American Birds as the specimen in 

 question proves to be an immature example of Stellula calliope. 

 (See Ridgway, "The Hummingbirds.") So far as I know, this is the 

 only Texas record for this species. 



258. Calothorax lucifer. Lucifer Hummingbird. 



Summer resident of the Chisos Mountains (Oberholser, The Auk, XIX, 

 p. 300.) 



259. Amazilis tzacatL Reiffer Hummingbird. 



Casual on the Lower Rio Grande. Specimen recorded from the vicini- 

 ty of Fort Brown by Dr. J. C. Merrill. 



260. Amazilis cerniventris chalconota. Buff-belhed Hummingbird. 



Lower Rio Grande Valley. Summer resident in the vicinity of Browns- 

 ville. I can find no records other than those from Cameron 

 county. 



ORDER Passeres. Perching Birds. 

 FAMILY Tyrannidae. Flycatchers. 



261. Nnscivora forficata. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. 



Texas, distributed over the greater portion of the State. Summer 

 resident In the east-central section, where it is abundant, it arrives 

 from the south from the middle to the 25th of March. Usually about 

 the 15th, small flocks of from four to a dozen are first observed, the 

 bulk not arriving for several days after the vanguard appears. During 

 the breeding season each pair selects some particular grove or large 

 solitary tree and holds it against all comers. At the close of the nesting 

 season the birds again form into small flocks, usually family groups. 

 They migrate southward in flocks of from a dozen to several hundred 

 birds. In 1898, 1 witnessed a flight of not less than five hundred at one 

 timcThey were congregated in a waste field lying between two strips 

 of woodland and after holding a noisy conclave lasting probably half an 

 hour, flew toward the south in a scattered body. 



