"^ 



SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 333 



The family comprises the following genera : 



1, Milvulus SwAiNSON. Fork-tailed Flycatchers. Two species. 



2, Tyrannus Cuvier. Kingbirds. Five species. 



3, Pitangus Swainson. Derby Flycatchers. One species. 



4, Myiozetetes Sclater. One species. 



5, Myiodynastes Bonaparte. One species. 



6, Myiarchus Cabanis. Crested Flycatchers. Four species. 



7, Sayornis Bonaparte. Phoebe Birds. Three species. 



8, Contopus Cabanis. Wood Pewees. Four species. 



9, Bmpidonax Cabanis. Small Flycatchers. Ten species. 



10, Pyrocephalus Gould. Vermillion Flycatchers. One species. 



11, Omithion Hartlaub. Beardless Flycatchers. One species. 



SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 



Milvulus for£catus Swainson. 



Plate XXXII. Fig. 1. 



[^HE fourth of March, 1879, was the first of many delightful days spent in Lee Co., 

 Texas. Although rather dry and often oppressively warm in summer, the climate 

 of this locality is very beautiful in autumn and winter, and especially in spring. Words 

 are not able to give a definite idea of the soft and mild air and of the exquisite carpet 

 of showy flowers, Avhich cover the ground of the prairies and post oak woods in March, 

 April, and May. The topography is rather varied. The upland woods consist mostly 

 of post oaks of medium size, while in the bottoms of creeks giant forest trees abound. 

 These bottom woods, where the trees are densely festooned with Spanish moss, are the 

 chosen home of the very numerous and beautiful Swallow^-tailed Kite. In the post oak 

 woods adjoining these bottom lands most of the trees are covered with "old man's 

 beard" {Usnea barbata), a long light green lichen with fine hair-like filaments. In these 

 lichens Parula Warblers breed abundantly, and Acadian Flycatchers are also found 

 nesting in them. Forests alternate with rolling live-oak prairies, often edged and inter- 

 i-upted by a dense growth of small mesquit trees, w^hich, like the live-oak bosquets, form 

 quite a feature in the laindscape. Thickets abound everywhere in the lowlands, along 

 fences, and on the banks of the creeks, forming most congenial haunts for White-eyed- 

 Vireos and Chats, which I have nowhere found so abundant. l^^|r'^*^e smaller trees 

 on the woodland border are densely covered with mtistaatig grape-vines. On the edges 

 of fields and in pastures the grotesque supple Jack', srailax and other climbers, vibur- 

 nums, buck-thorns ^ persimmons, white-thorn^te., form tangled masses of green difficult 

 to penetrate. In spring and summer theset^ltets are the favorite haunts of Cardinals 

 and other bush-loving species, and in Avin|^r they are excellent abiding places for Tow- 



) Percliemia rolvbilis, ^ Bumelia lanagiaosa. 



