XANTUS'S BECARD. 231 



also as regards to the rosy spot on the throat, etc." Further on, in speaking- of 

 the habits of II. at/lake, they say: "In all parts of our region the range in alti- 

 tude of this species is very considerable, and extends from the sea level to an 

 altitude of at least 8,000 feet. In the Tres Marias Grayson found it only in 

 thick woods, where it was seen searching for insects, sometimes, darting after 

 them when on the wing, at other times looking for them among the leaves and 

 branches, not unlike the Warblers. , Its notes are feeble and but seldom uttered, 

 and its habits are solitary. This island bird has been separated by Mr. Ridgway 

 as Platypsaris insularis. 



"Mr. Robert Owen found a nest of this bird on May 15, 1860, atChuacusin, 

 Guatemala, and sent us the female, its nest, and two eggs. The nest was entirely 

 composed of tendrils, strips of bark, and grass, so as to form a hanging nest, 

 open at the top and about 2 inches deep. It was built between and hung from 

 the forked branch of a sapling at the foot of a mountain. The egg is white, 

 beautifully marked with pencilings of pinkish red and scattered spots of the 

 same color; these markings are much blended and concentrated at the larger 

 end." 1 



There is nothing recorded as yet regarding the nesting habits and eggs of 

 Xantus's Becard; but they are not likely to differ very much from the nest and 

 eggs of Hadrostomus aglaice, to which it is closely allied. As far as I can learn 

 the eggs still remain unknown. 



Family TYRANNISE. Tyrant Flycatchers. 

 85. Milvulus tyrannus (Linnaeus). 



FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 



Mnscicapa tyrannus Linnaeus, Systema Naturre, ed. 12, I, 1766, 325. 

 Milvulus tyrannus Bonaparte, Geographical and Comparative List, 1838, 25. 

 (B 122, C-210, R 302, O 366, U [442].) 



Geographical range: From northern Patagonia north through South and Central 

 America to southern Mexico and the Lesser Antilles. Within the United States accident- 

 ally in Mississippi, Kentucky, Xew Jersey, and southern California. 



The Fork-tailed Flycatcher can only be considered an accidental straggler 

 within our borders. It is a common bird throughout the more level and open 

 portions of Central America, and also througdiout the greater part of South 

 America. 



The Scissor-tail Tyrant, or "Tijereta," as this species is called by Sclater and 

 Hudson, "is migratory, and arrives, already mated, at Buenos Ayres at the end 

 of September, and takes its departure at the end of February in families, old 

 and young birds together. In disposition and general habits it resembles the 



1 Biologia Centrali Americana, Aves, Vol. II, December, 1890, pp. 121-124. 



