A Handsome Scissorstail 99 



a locust tree about sixteen feet from the ground. It was 

 made mostly of dry grass and locust blossoms, with here 

 and there a piece of twine braided into the structure. 

 It had no special lining, but the grass was more evenly 

 woven on the inside of the cup than elsewhere. 



From three to five eggs are deposited. The ground 

 color is white, either pure or creamy, sparingly mottled 

 with rich madder-brown and lilac-gray, the spots being 

 thicker and larger on the larger end. While the nest is 

 undergoing examination, the owners circle and hover 

 overhead, much after the fashion of the red- winged black- 

 birds, expressing their disapproval in loud and musical 

 calls, and displaying their rich scarlet decorations. 



My descriptions have related only to the male bird, 

 whose beautiful forked tail is nine to ten inches long, and 

 whose colors are clear and more or less intense. His 

 spouse resembles him, but is slightly smaller, while her 

 tail, though forked like her mate's, is fro,m two and a half 

 to three inches shorter. The salmon and scarlet orna- 

 ments on the sides, flanks, and axillars are paler than 

 those of her lord, and the scarlet spot shows very indis- 

 tinctly on her occiput. The young of both sexes don 

 the dress of the mother bird during the first season, save 

 that they fail to adorn themselves with a scarlet gem 

 on the crown. 



Like all the members of the flycatcher group, the 

 scissorstails capture insects while on the wing, making 

 many an attractive picture as they perform their graceful 

 and interesting evolutions in the air. 



