A Handsome Scissor stall 95 



makes you feel as if you were suddenly transported to a 

 foreign land, like Australia or Borneo, where so many 

 feathered curios are to be found. 



In a fever of -excitement I followed the bird, which 

 presently flew back to the fence by the roadside. He 

 flitted from point to point as my friend and I slowly pur- 

 sued him, giving us an exhibition of his scissoring process. 

 Sometimes he would alight on a post, then on the barbed 

 wire, usually sitting flat on his breast. When open, the 

 tail is bicolored, the outer border all around being white 

 and the inner black. His general color is hoafy ash, 

 paler, almost white, below, giving out a slight iridescence 

 in the sunshine; his wings are blackish, with white trim- 

 mings; his flanks are stained with salmon-red, and when 

 his wings are spread, there appears a large blotch of scar- 

 let at the inner angle of the intersection with the body. 

 One individual that I afterwards saw wore a scarlet 

 epaulet, which was almost concealed by the other plumes 

 when the wing was closed, but was clearly seen when it 

 was extended. An orange or scarlet gem adorns the 

 crown, but is so well hidden by the other crest feathers 

 that it is seldom noticed. \ 



My friend and I were privileged to witness a rare 

 and attractive scissorstail show, more gratifying than 

 any circus performance. A loggerhead shrike suddenly 

 appeared on the scene, and made an assault on the fly- 

 catcher. The two birds went gyrating, zigzagging, see- 

 sawing through the air in a perfect jumble of white and 

 black and ash. It must be remembered that the shrike 



