198 SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER. 



the grasshoppers, which were now abundant. At this time also, they were 

 wholly silent, and flitted before our path with suspicion and timidity. A 

 week or two after, we saw them no more, they having retired probably to 

 tropical winter-quarters. 



In the month of May, a pair, which I daily saw for three or four weeks, 

 had made a nest on the horizontal branch of an elm, probably twelve or more 

 feet from the ground. I did not examine it very near, but it appeared 

 externally composed of coarse dry grass. The female, when first seen, was 

 engaged in sitting, and her mate wildly attacked every bird which approach- 

 ed their residence. The harsh chirping note of the male, kept up at inter- 

 vals, as remarked by Mr. Sat, almost resembled the barking of the Prairie 

 Marmot, , tsh i 'tsh, 'tsh. His flowing kite-like tail, spread or contracted at 

 will while flying, is a singular trait in his plumage, and rendered him con- 

 spicuously beautiful to the most careless observer." 



Swallow-tailed Flycatcher, Muscicapa forficata, Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 15. 

 Muscicapa forficata, Syn., p. 275. 



Swallow-tailed Flycatcher, Muscicapa forficata, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 275. 

 Swallow-tailed Flycatcher, Muscicapa forficata, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 426. 



Tail longer than the body; upper part of the head, cheeks, and hind neck 

 ash-grey; back brownish-grey, rump dusky; anterior wing-coverts scarlet, 

 quills brownish-black, tail-feathers deep black, the three outer on each side 

 rose-coloured to near the end; lower parts white before, rose-coloured behind. 



Male, 11, wing 5\. 



GExrs II.— MUSCICAPA, Linn. FLYCATCHER. 



Bill moderate, or rather long, stout, straight, broad at the base, gradually 

 compressed toward the end; upper mandible with the dorsal outline sloping, 

 the edges sharp and overlapping, with a very small notch close to the small 

 deflected tip; lower mandible with the ridge very broad at the base, the sides 

 rounded, the tip minute and ascending. Nostrils basal, roundish. Head 

 rather large, depressed; neck short; body rather slender. Feet short; tarsus 

 very short, slender, with six very broad scutella, three of which almost meet 

 behind; toes free, the hind toe large, all scutellate above; claws rather long, 

 very slender, arched, finely pointed. Plumage soft and blended. Wings 

 long, second and third quills longest; outer primaries generally attenuated at 

 the end. Tail long, even, or emarginate. 



