SCISSOR-TAILBD FLYCATCHER. 335 



tail, the external feathers of which are twice as long as its body. The prevailing color 

 of its upper parts is a soft light ash, and the back is faintly streaked with brick-red. 

 The under-parts are whitish, slightly tinged towards the tail with vermilion, which 

 changes into rosy-red tinder the wings. The sides of the breast iind the fore-arm are 

 dark vermilion. The long rosy-white tail-feathers are broadly tipped with black. The effect 

 of this peculiar coloration is increased by its great activity and its phiyful disposition, 

 its gyrations and evolutions in the air. Moreover it is a very familiiir and abundant 

 bird, as bold and courageous as the Kingbird, and very confident, never seeking to hide, 

 but always ready to display its full beauty. 



The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is one of the characteristic birds of Texas, but it is 

 not confined to that State, being found northward to Oklahoma, the Indian Territory, 

 and Kansas, and south through eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. In the northern part 

 of its habitat it is not very numerous. It is said to occur also in south-western Mis- 

 souri, but during a five years' residence in the Ozark region I have never observed it. 



The Texan Bird of Paradise arrives in Lee County and at Houston rarely before 

 the last week of March, and at Caddo, Indian Territory, Prof W. W. Cooke observed 

 its arrival on April 11. In 1879, when the season was rather late, I noticed the first 

 one on the 2nd of April. It was a beautiful day, and the song of the Mockingbird 

 and numerous Cardinals fell constantly on my ear while I was sauntering through 

 £1 cotton-field. Everything was new to me and attracted my attention. While 

 listening to a bird concert as never heard before, I saw a strange bird entirely new to 

 me. It flew through the air and evidently carried a long straw or a bunch of grass. 

 After the bird had flown a short distance, it descended head downward in a perpen- 

 dicular w^ay, and now I saw that it w^as its long tail which I had mistaken for nesting 

 material. While flying down its long tail expanded and closed in a scissor-like shape. 

 The bird alighted not far from me on a dry cotton-stalk and I was surprised by its 

 unique beauty. It opened and closed its long tail constantly and uttered a few rather 

 harsh twittering notes, not unlike those of the Kingbird. A few moments later a second 

 one appeared, perhaps its mate, and perched on a dry cotton-stalk near b3'. Both uttered 

 their chattering notes, and I could admire the great elegance and gracefulness of these 

 charming birds at pleasure. After they had rested for a few minutes, the one took wing-, 

 whereupon the other followed immediately. Now they began such a beautiful play in the 

 air as I never had seen before of any other bird. Evidently one was in pitrsuit of the other. 

 They flew up and down, to and fro, and always the long tail played an important part 

 in these eccentric gyrations. Both made the same motions, both were in the same happy 

 mood, and both descended again almost to the ground, over which they glided in a 

 rapid manner until they alighted on some dry cotton-stalks. This playing in the air 

 and resting on dry branches or stalks is continued throughout the day from their arrival 

 until they depart in fall. In beauty and conspicuousness they surpass all other birds found 

 in Texas, but their superiority is not owing so much to the brilliancy of their plumage 

 (for in this respect they are excelled by the Cardinal and Painted Bunting), but to the 

 inimitable grace and charm of their flight. This flight always attracts our attention and 

 arouses our enthusiasm. Often we see one fly, or rather float, in pursuit of insects, and 

 then descending perpendicularly it alights on some object from which it has a good view in 



