106 TYEANNID^. 



2. MUvulus forficatus. 



Muscicapa forficata, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 931 '. 



Milvulus forficatus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 204^; Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiv. p. 279'; Baird, Mex. 



Bound. Surv., ZooL, Birds, i. p. 7'; Scl. & Sak. Ibis, 1859, p. 121 ^ Cab. & Heine, Mus. 



Hein. ii. p. 79'; Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 114'; Cab. J. f. Orn. 1861, p. 252'; Dresser, Ibis, 



1865, p. 472 '; v. Frantz. J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 309"; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. 



p. 556"; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 116'=; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 28"; Salvin, 



Ibis, 1872, p. 318"; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 311"; Sennett, Bull. U. S. 



Geol. Surv. iv. p. 30", v. p. 401"; Nutt. & Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. vi. pp. 374", 384" ; 



Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 155 '". 



Supra griseus, dorso medio aut ochraceo aut roseo nonnunquam lavato ; capite summo crista parva eoccinea 

 ornato ; alls nigricantibus, teotricibus et secundariis albido limbatis ; cauda elongata, rectricibus sex mediis 

 nigris, duabus utrinque albis rosaceo tinotis et nigro terminatis : subtus griseo-albus, axillaribus rosaoeo- 

 rubris, hj'pochondriis crisso et subalaribus eodem colore lavatis : rostro corneo, pedibus nigris. Long, tota 

 14-0, alae 4-8, caudse rect. med. 2-6, rect. lat. 8-8, tarsi 0-75, rostri a rictu 1-0. 



$ mari similis, sed cauda multo breviore. (Descr. maris et femin* ex Tampico, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. NoETH America, Lower Mississippi valley ^^ and Texas'^ i^^'^. — Mexico, San Antonio, 

 San Augustin, and Vaqueria in Nuevo Leon {F. Armstrong), Tamaulipas {Couch% 

 Soto la Marina, Tampico ( W. B. Richardson), Hacienda de los Atlixcos, Otrobanda 

 (F. D. G.), Vera Cruz (Bichardson), Huehuetlan (F. Ferrari-Perez ^°), Chihuitan 

 and Tehuantepec city (Sumichrast ^^) ; British Honduras, Cayo {Blancaneaux) ; 

 Guatemala {Skinner ^), Coban, San Geronimo, Duenas and near Guatemala city, 

 Sta. Isabel near the port of San Jose {0. S. & F. B. G.) ; Honduras, Langui 

 {Taylor''); Nicaragua, Sucuya^^ San Juan del Sur ^^ {Nutting), Chinandega 

 {Eenshaw coll.); Costa Eica {von Frantzius^ ^° ^^, Carmiol). 



Milvulus forficatus is probably more abundant in the prairies of Texas and the 

 lower Eio Grande valley than elsewhere ; but it appears to be almost equally common 

 over the eastern districts of Mexico and thence to British Honduras and Guatemala, 

 being generally distributed in the open parts of the latter country. Its southern 

 extension includes Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where, however, it is rare. 



At Langui in Honduras G. C. Taylor says M. forficatus was very plentiful 7. 

 Numbers of birds would here assemble in the evening on the tops of trees, where 

 they would remain till nearly dark and then fly off to the woods. 



In Mexico it is chiefly a denizen of the eastern low-lands, but occasional individuals 

 ascend the mountains as high as 4000 feet i^. At the Isthmus of Tehuantepec it crosses 

 to the Pacific side of the cordillera and thence spreads along both sides of the moun- 

 tains of Guatemala, and is also found in open places up to an elevation of 5000 feet 

 near the city of Guatemala, occurring at the same time near the sea-level at Santa 

 Isabel, a few miles from the port of San Jose de Guatemala. 



We are not aware if it remains to breed in Central America or Southern Mexico ; 

 but in the Rio Grande valley it does so in numbers, building in the mesquite trees, and 

 laying pure white eggs blotched with large spots of dark red. 



