232 LIFE HISTOllIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



true Tyrimt-hirds, l)ut diffc^rs from them in language, its various chirping and 

 twittering notes lia\'ing a liard, percussive sound, which Aznra well compares to 

 the snapping of castanets. It prefers open situations, with scattered trees and 

 buslies, and is also partial to marshy grounds, where it takes np a ^position on an 

 elevated stalk to watch for insects, and seizes them in the air, like the Flycatcher. 

 It also greedily devours elderberries and other small fruits. 



"The nest is not deep, but is much more elaborately constructed than is 

 usual with the Tja-ants. Soft materials are prefeired, and in many cases the 

 nests are composed almost exclusively of wool. The inside is cup-shaped, with 

 a flat bottom, and is smooth and hard, the thistle down with which it is lined 

 being cemented with gum. The eggs are four, sluvrply pointed, light cream 

 color, and spotted, chiefly at the large end, with chocolate. In the breeding 

 time these Tyrants attack other birds approaching the nest with great spirit, and 

 ;ni(l have a ])articular linti-ed to the Chimango, pursuing it with the greatest vio- 

 lence througli the air, with angry notes, resembling in sound the whettiug of a 

 s( vthe, but uttered with great raj)idity and emphasis. How greatly this species 

 is imposed upon by the Cow- bird, notwithstanding its pugnacious temper, we 

 have already seen in my account of that bird. 



"The Scissor-tails have one remarkable habit; they are not gregarioi;s, but 

 once every day, just before the sun sets, all the liirds living near together rise to 

 the tops of the trees, calling to one another with louil, excited chirps, and then 

 mount upward like rockets to a great height in the air; then, after whirling 

 about for a few moments, they precipitate themselves downward with the 

 greatest violence, opening and shutthig their tails during tlieirwild zigzag flight, 

 and littering a succession of sharp, grinding notes. After this curious perform- 

 ance they separate in pairs, and, perching on -the tree tops, .each couple utters 

 together its rattling castanet notes, after which the company breaks up."^ 



Mr. George K. Cherrie, in his List of Birds of San Jose, Costa Rica, speaks 

 of this species as follows: 



"Resident, but much more abundant at some seasons than at others — that 

 is, immediately after the breeding season (from the latter part of A})ril until the 

 first of July) they become quite common about the subiirbs of the city, and 

 remain so until the middle of December. 



"At a slightly lower altitude it nests abundantly. A nest with three fresh 

 eggs, taken by Don Anastasio Alfaro at Tambor, Alajuela, May 2, 1889, was 

 ]tlaced in a small tree, about 10 feet from the ground. The parent bird left the 

 n(^st onlv very reluctantly and not until almost within the grasji of the col- 

 lector. Tlic nest is constructed of a, mixture of small dry grass and weed stems 

 and soft dry grass, rather comjjactly woven together, with a lining of a few fine 

 rootlets. It measures outside 5 inches in diameter by 2| deep; inside, 2 J in 

 diameter by 2^ deep. The eggs are white, sparsely spotted and blotched, chiefly 

 about the larger end, with chestnut of slightly varying shades. In form the 



» Argentine Ornithology, Vol. I, pp. 160, 161. 



