404 



NOKTU AMKiaCAX IJIKDS. 



The male ))ii(l is very piiiiiiaeious, and was observed to attack and drive 

 away an Arripitcr Jusms, the JIawk retreatini; as ia})idly as possible. Wlien 

 the nest is approached, the male often rises hij^h into the air and then sweeps 

 down almost to the head oi" the intruder, its swift descent beinij accompa- 

 nied by a very peculiar shrill, screeching buzz, of an extraordinary degree 

 of htudness to be i>roduced by so small a creature. The same sound Mr. 

 Iiidgway noticed when the bird was passing overhead, in a manner not ob- 

 served in any other species, its horizontal llight being by a ]>eculiar undu- 

 lating course. The shrill noise made by the male of this species he suggests 

 may be caused by the curious attenuated and stiffened outer i)rimary. He 

 noticed a curious juece of ingenuity in nest-niaking on the part of this species. 

 The nest in (piestion was ftistened upon a dead twig of a small cottonwood- 

 tree ; the loosening bark, which probaldy had separated after the nest was 

 finished, had allowed the nest to turn around so as to hang beneath the 

 branch, thus spilling the eggs upon the ground. The owners, however, built 

 another nest upon the top of the branch, fastening its sides to that of the 

 old one, and making the new nest lighter and less bulky, so that the weight 

 of the oldt. nest kept the other in a pennanently upright position. 



Gknls ATTHIS, UfciicnEXBACU. 



Atthis, Ueich. Cab. Jour. f. Orii. cxtraht-ft filr 1853, 1S54. Appendix B. (Type, Ornys- 

 mtja hchma, Les.son, Del.) 



Gkx. Ciiau. Size very (liuiinutive ; bill short, scarcely lonprer than the head. Outer 

 primary iitteuuated nearly as in Sehmphorns ; the tail frraduated, the feathers, however, 



not lanceolate-acute, but rounded at end, and tipped with 

 wliite in the male. 



This genus seems closely related to Sdoqjho- 

 ru^, agreeing in character of throat, the curious 

 attenuation of outer primary, and the general 

 shape of the tail, with its rufous base and edg- 

 ing. The feathers, however, are not lanceclate 

 and pointed, either sharply as in S. rufiis, or ob- 

 tusely as in phitjfrcrcv.si, but are more eiiual to near the end, where they round 

 off. The white tip of the tail in the male seems to be the principal reason 

 why ^Ir. (rould removes the single species from Sc/((.y)hon/'^, where it was 

 previously jdaced by him, and where perhaps it mi«^ht have not inappropri- 

 ately remained. 



Atthis hfloisa. 



