PERCHING BIRDS 



443. SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER. MuSClVOTa forficdtd. 



Creamy white 



Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 



Range. Mexico, north through Texas to 

 southern Kansas; accidental in other parts of 

 the country. 



The Scissor-tail or "Texan Bird of Paradise" 

 is the most beautiful member of this interest- 

 ing family. Including its long tail, often 10 

 inches in length and forked for about 6 inches, 



this Flycatcher reaches a 



length of about 15 inches. 



It is pale grayish above, 



fading into whitish below, 



and has scarlet linings to 



the wings, and a scarlet 



crown patch. They are 



one of the most abundant 



of the breeding birds in 



Texas, placing their iara;e 



roughly built nests in all kinds of trees and at 

 any elevation, but averaging between ten and 

 fifteen feet above ground. The nests are built 

 of rootlets, grasses, weeds and trash of all 

 kinds, such as paper, rags, string, etc. The 

 interior is generally lined with plant fibres, 

 hair or wool. They lay from three to five, and rarely six eggs with a creamy 

 white ground color, more or less spotted and blotched with reddish brown, lilac 

 and gray, the markings generally being most numerous about the larger end. 

 They average in size about .90 x .67. Data. Corpus Christi, Texas, May 18, 

 1899. 6 eggs. Nest of moss, vines, etc., on small trees in open woods near town. 

 Collector, Frank B. Armstrong. 



444. KINGBIRD. Tyrannus tyrannus. 



Range. Temperate North America, breeding 

 from the Gulf of Mexico north to New Bruns- 

 wick, Manitoba and British Columbia; rare off 

 the Pacific coast. 



This common Tyrant Flycatcher is very 

 abundant in the eastern parts of its range. 

 They are one of the most pugnacious and cour- 

 ageous of birds attacking and driving away any 

 feathered creature to which they take a dis- 

 like, regardless of size. 

 Before and during the 

 nesting season, their 

 sharp, nerve-racking clat- 

 ter is kept up all day long, 

 and with redoubled vigor 

 when anyone approaches 

 their nesting site. They 

 nest in any kind of a tree, 



in fields or open woods, and at any height 

 from the ground, being found on fence rails 

 within two feet of the ground or in the tops of 

 pines 70 or 80 feet above the earth. Nearly 

 every orchard will be found to contain one or 



281 



Cream t>olor 



Kingbird 



