50 AMERICA X ORNITIfOI 0G\. 



a large blotch of scarlet at the inner angle of intersection with the body. 

 One individual afterward seen wore a scarlet epaulet, which was almost 

 concealed by the other plumes when the wing was closed, but was clear- 

 ly visible 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 scis- 

 sor-tail show, more gratifying than any human trapeze performance. A 

 loggerhead shrike suddenly appeared on the scene, and made an assault 

 on the flycatcher, and then the two birds went gyrating, zigzaging, see- 

 sawing through the air in a perfect jumble of white and black and ash. 

 It must be remembered that the shrike himself makes a handsome pic- 

 ture on the wing, and when you come to mix up a scissor-tail and a 

 shrike in an inextricable confusion of colors, you have a feathery dis- 

 play worth seeing. 



Nor was that the end of the performance, for in a moment a second- 

 scissor-tail, the precise facsimile of the first; appeared from somewhere, 

 and then the two flycatchers combined against their enemy, and for a 

 few minutes there was such a chaos of shrike and scissor-tail that the 

 excited spectators could hardly distinguish between them. By and by 

 the shrike wheeled away, when, as if to bring the gladiatorial show to a 

 climax, the scissor-tails engaged in a setto that was really wonderful, 

 coming together in the air, whirling around and around, rising in a 

 spiral course, opening and closing their beautiful forked tails in quick 

 succession, the black and white trimmings flashing momentarily and 

 then disappearing, until the contestants finally descended, parted in the 

 most graceful manner, and alighted on separate fence-posts, none the 

 worse for their exciting melee. 



In the evening I returned to the enchanted spot, but the scissor-tails 

 had disappeared. Not having had my fill of these charmers, I stopped, 

 on my return home, for a day at Wellington, Kansas, where I was so 

 fortunate as to find three birds of this species, who permitted me to 

 watch them to my heart's content. They are not shy birds, but fly in a 

 graceful, leisvirely way from post to post along the fence as you walk 

 or drive, sometimes sitting quiet to let you pass by. In this respect 

 their habits are much like those of their cousin, the bee martin. 



As his name indicates, our bird is the proud possessor of a genuine 

 scissor-tail. That appendage is divided into two long, slender prongs, 

 which are spread far apart under certain conditions of flight. Let me 

 describe the process minutely, for it is unique, especially here in North 

 America where fork-tailed birds are rare. 



When the bird starts from a perch, he spreads apart the prongs of his 



