AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 51 



tail for a moment, as if to give himself a spring; then he closes them in- 

 to a single slender pole, tapering outward to a point, keeping them 

 closed during prolonged flight, and then, just as he sweeps down to an- 

 other perch, he opens his ornamental scissors again, shutting them up 

 as soon as he has settled upon his resting place. He does not open 

 and close his tail at regular intervals, as might be supposed, during 

 flight, but keeps it closed until he descends to a perch, when it is open- 

 ed for a moment in the act of alighting. However, if he has occasion 

 to wheel or make a sudden turn in the air, either for an insect or for 

 some other cause, his scissors fly open, one might almost say spon- 

 taneously, no doubt serving the double purpose of a rudder and a two- 

 part balancing-pole. When closed, the tail is very narrow, looking al- 

 most like a single plume. On the perch (except when he desires to 

 shift his position, when he also makes use of his wings) his tail is 

 closed. Therefore the picture of this bird in Dr. Coue's "Key to North 

 American Birds" is not accurate, for it represents our bird as sitting on 

 a perch with the tines of his fork spread apart. If the wings were out- 

 stretched, representing the bird in the act of alighting or shifting his 

 position, the picture would be true to life. 



The range of these birds is somewhat restricted, and for that reason, 

 doubtless, so little is known about their habits. According to Ridg- 

 way, their proper home is in eastern Mexico and the south-western 

 prairie districts of the United States, though many of them come north 

 as far as southern Kansas and south-western Missouri to spend the sum- 

 mer and rear their families. In winter they go as far south as Costa 

 Rico. Restricted as their habitat is, it is curious to note that they are 

 "accidental" in a few unexpected places, such as Key West, Fla., Nor- 

 folk, Va., and also in several localities in New England, Manitoba and 

 Hudson's Bay Territory. Prof. W. W. Cooke, of Colorado, says they 

 are "rare, if not accidental" in that state. To show that our birds are 

 unique, it is relevant to say that there are only two species of scissor- 

 tailed flycatchers in North America, constituting the Genus Milvithis all 

 to themselves. The other member of the genus is the fork-tailed fly- 

 catcher {Milvnlus tyrannus.) which is a resident of tropical America, 

 migrating north normally as far as southern Mexico. He is a sort of 

 southern twin of our scissor-tail. 



The nests of the scissor-tails are set in the crotches of trees in the 

 neighborhood of country homes on the prairie. Considering the size 

 of the birds, their nests are quite small, not as large as the brown 

 thrasher's, although the cup is deeper and the architecture more com- 

 pact and elaborate. A friend describes a nest which he found on a lo- 

 cust tree about sixteen feet from the ground. It was made mostly of 



