160 TYRANNID.E. 



The eggs are four in number, small for the bird, pointed, parchment- 

 white, spotted with dark brown at the larger end. 



171. MILVULUS TYRANNUS (Linn.). 

 (SCISSOR-TAIL TYRANT.) 



Milvulus tyrannus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 53 ; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 178 

 (Buenos Ayres) ; Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 26 (Buenos Ayres) ; Barrows, Bull. 

 Nutt. Orn. Cl. vol. viii. p. 203 (Entrerios). Tyrannus violentus, Burm. 

 La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 453. 



Description. Above cinereous, rump blackish ; cap jet-black, with a concealed 

 yellow vertical crest ; wings dark brown ; tail black, outer web of the outer 

 rectrix white ; beneath white ; bill and feet black ; three outer primaries 

 excised at the tips : whole length 14-0 inches, wing 4'6, tail 12-0. Female 

 similar, but outer tail-feathers not so long. 



Hab. Mexico, and Central and South America, down to Patagonia. 



The Tijereta (Scissor-tail) a name derived from the habit the bird 

 has of opening and closing the two long feathers of the tail when 

 flying is found throughout South America, and in the summer of the 

 Southern Hemisphere ranges as far south as Patagonia. 



The tail is forked, and the two outer feathers exceed by over four 

 inches in length the next two. The total length of the adult male is 

 fourteen inches, the tail being ten inches long; this species is there- 

 fore one of the longest-tailed we know of. The tail of the female is 

 about two inches shorter than that of the male. The head is intense 

 black ; the plumage of the crown is rather long and loose, and when 

 raised displays a vivid yellow crest. The neck and upper surface is 

 light, clear grey; the under surface pure white; the tail black. 

 During flight the two long feathers of the tail stream out behind like 

 a pair of black ribbons ; frequently the bird pauses suddenly in its 

 flight, and then the two long feathers open out in the form of the 

 letter V. 



The Scissor-tail is migratory, and arrives, already mated, at Buenos 

 Ayres at the end of September, and takes its departure at the end of 

 February in families old and young birds together. In disposition and 

 general habits it resembles the true Tyrant-birds, but differs from them 

 in language, its various chirping and twittering notes having a hard 

 percussive sound, which Azara well compares to the snapping of casta- 

 nets. It prefers open situations with scattered trees and bushes ; and 

 is also partial to marshy grounds, where it takes up a position on an 

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



