Tue PERCHING Brirps. 113 
CHAPTER IV. 
THE PERCHING BIRDS.—( Concluded.) 
HE first of the several groups to be considered 
in this chapter is that important one, the Tyrant 
Flycatchers. The very name suggests a lively time, 
and I certainly never saw a lazy bird among them. 
They are fly-catchers, not fly-hunters, and it is the 
insect on the wing that concerns them more than the 
crawling slug down in the dirt. These birds are 
divided by ornithologists into eleven genera, and, of 
course, there are many species, but I think that the 
general family likeness is so pronounced that no one 
will be likely to confound them with birds of other 
families. Some of them are beautifully colored, but 
in the United States the great majority have neither 
color nor voice to commend them. They are prac- 
tical birds, eminently useful rather than ornamental. 
The most beautiful of these birds are two species 
that are distinguished by their long forked tails and 
light, gray-white, pink, and yellow coloration. The 
Fork-tailed Flycatcher is said to be “accidental” to 
Mississippi, Kentucky, and New Jersey, and the 
Scissor-tailed is a real resident of our territory, keep- 
ing closely to the Southwest, but occasionally going 
so far from home as British America. 
Of Kingbirds proper there are five species, and 
they do not differ much among themselves. Every 
h 10* 
