NORTH AMUmCAN BIRDS. 297 



* * KOSE-THBOATEB BECABD. Platypsaris alaim (Lafr.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Eastern Mexico, north to the Rio Grande Valley, south to Salvador. 



The family Cotingidse, or the Contingas is a very extensive group of tropical and 

 subtropical America. They are represented by two genera on our southern border, 

 Platypsaris and Pachyrhamphus. They are very closely allied to the family Tyrannid(ty 

 the Tyrant Flycatcher, their habits and general characteristics being similar. The 

 present species is found in Eastern Mexico and northward to the Valley of the Rio 

 Grande. The extensive oological collection of Mr. C. W. Crandall contains two sets 

 of five eggs each of this bird, which were taken by Mr. Frank B. Armstrong at Alta 

 Mira, Mexico, May 8, 1895. The nests in which these eggs were found were as large 

 as a bushel basket and were composed of general rubbish, bark, straw, dry grass, 

 etc. Each contained a small cavity where the eggs were deposited. The eggs have a 

 ground color of a very light drab, marked with blotches, scratches and pen lines 

 often similar to the markings found in the eggs of the Crested Flycatcher— fawn 

 color or hair-brown inclining to form a ring around the large end. One set exhibits 

 the following measurements: .98x.71, 1.04x.71, 1.03x.69, .98x.71, .97x.70; the other 

 1.02X.73, 1.05X.73, .98x.73, .98x.73, 1.02x.73; the eggs in the second set are remark- 

 able for their uniformity of breadth. The average size of the ten eggs is 1.01x.71 

 inches. 



441. 1. XAWTUS BECABD. Platypsaris alUventris (Lawr.) Geog. Dist. — 

 Western and Southern Mexico, north to southern Arizona (Huachuca Mountains). 



One specimen of this species taken in southern Arizona by Mr. W. W. Price gives 

 this species a place in our fauna. A nest from Guatemala was hung from the branch 

 of a sapling at the foot of a mountain. It was composed of strips of bark and grass 

 so as to form a hanging nest open at the top and about 2 inches deep. The egg is 

 white, beautifulUy marked with pencilings of pinkish red and spots of the same 

 color. 



[442.] FOBK-TAILED FLYCATCHEB. Milvulus lyranniis (Linn.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Mexico to South America. Accidental in the United States — Mississippi^ 

 Louisiana, Kentucky, New Jersey. 



This handsome Flycatcher with a very deeply forked tail is found throughout 

 tropical America. Its tail is about a foot long, and forked as much as six to eight' 

 inches. The bird's occurrence in the United States is purely accidental, and only a 

 few specimens have thus far been taken in the regions cited above. Its habits are 

 said not to differ essentially from those of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher of our 

 southern fauna. Dr. Brewer describes an egg of this species obtained by Dr. Bal- 

 damus from Cayenne, as bearing a strong resemblance to the egg of the common 

 Kingbird. It has a clear white ground, and is spotted with deep, bold markings of 

 reddish-brown; size .90x.68. 



443. SCISSOE-TAILED TLYCATCHEB. Milvulus forflcaUis (Gmel.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Eastern Mexico and southwestern prairie districts of the United States, north 

 to Indian Territory, Kansas and the southwestern portion of Missouri. Accidental 

 in the Eastern States — Virgina, New Jersey, New England — even as far north as 

 Hudson Bay Territory and Manitoba. 



Known as the Swallow-tailed or Fork-tailed Flycatcher — an elegant, graceful 

 bird, common in the southwestern portion of .the United States, from Kansas and 

 southwestern Missouri southward— especially abundant in Texas. Mr. Singley 

 states that in Lee county, Texas, this bird nests in trees varying from six to twenty 

 feet from the ground. He describes a typical nest as built of w«eds, small stems and 

 thistle-down, and lined with down and sometimes with a few fibrous roots. Since 



