124 



CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



a bowstring. Such a hideous chorus, and all evoked 

 by the falling of a few showers ! 



The advent of the rainy season was the signal for 

 the appearance of a host of new and strange birds, in 

 pursuit of the insects evoked by the showers. The 

 most noticeable of these was seen by me the first morn- 

 ing after the rain had fallen — a peculiar bird over 

 fourteen inches in length, but nine inches of this 

 length was tail. And this tail was deeply cleft, spread 

 apart like a pair of scissors. Indeed, it was a true 

 " scissorstail," the swallowtail flycatcher. 



The scissorstail arrives in 

 Tobago in June, but is most 

 abundant in the "plover sea- 

 son." It is said to come from 

 South America, and a pecul- 

 iarity of its migration is that 

 the males always precede the 

 Scissorstaiis. females by several days. A 



noteworthy example of this 

 habit may be recalled in the advent of the bobolink, 

 in New England, the males of that species always 

 arriving at their Northern breeding grounds ahead of 



