142 



442. Milvulus tyrannus (Linn.)- [302.] Fori- -tailed Flycatcher. 



A tropical American species, accidental in the United States. Re- 

 corded by Audubon from Mississippi and Kentucky. 



443. Milvulus forficatus (Gniel.). [301.] Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. 



The true home of the "Texas Bird of Paradise" is from Texas to 

 Central America. In summer it occurs regularly in Indian Territory 

 and Kansas. In southern Kansas it is a tolerably common summer 

 resident (Goss). Accidental stragglers have been recorded from as far 

 north as Manitoba and Hudson Bay. In the spring of 1884 the first 

 arrivals spread over the whole of the northern part of Texas during 

 the last week of March. In Indian Territory they appeared at Caddo 

 April 11 and at Darlington April 9. The bulk reached Eagle Pass, 

 Tex., April 1, and three days later they were numerous at San Angelo, 

 where they were breeding from May 6 to July 1C. Clutches of four, 

 five, and six eggs were found. 



In the fall of 1881 a flock of transient Scissor-tailed Flycatchers was 

 seen at San Angelo October 1. The last was seen there October 6. 

 At Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Mr. Nash found one "tying dead on 

 the prairie" in October. 



In the spring of 1885 none but Texas observers reported its arrival. 

 It reached San Angelo March 14 ; Bonham March 28, and Gainesville 

 March 31. It was noted also at Eagle Pass, San Antonio, and Mason. 

 In the fall of 18S5 the last was seen at Bonham October 5, and at Ma- 

 son October 11. 



444. Tyrannus tyrannus (Linn.). [304.] Kingbird. 



A common summer resident throughout Manitoba and the Missis- 

 sippi Valley. Even as far south as Houston, Tex., it breeds abun- 

 dantly; but in the valley of the Lower Bio Grande it is a migrant only 

 (Sennett & Merrill). At Brown's Valley, on the border between Min- 

 nesota and Dakota, it is so abundant that Boberts and Benner found 

 twenty-five nests in one day (June 17, 1879), " all contaiuing full sets 

 of perfectly fresh eggs." (Bull.Nutt, Ornith. Club, Vol. V, 1880, p. 15.) 



This species will be treated with reference to the influence which the 

 atmospheric warm and cold waves had upon its movements. In study- 

 ing the weather reports of the Signal Service it is found that a succes- 

 sion of cold and warm waves pass over the Mississippi Valley. They 

 begin in the northwest and pass eastward and southward. This is true 

 of the warm waves as well as the cold. The common idea that a warm 

 wave begins in the south and passes northward is wrong ; it begins in 

 the north and passes southward. For example, on the night of May 

 15, 1884, a warm wave began at Custer, in the Bocky Mountains. At 

 11 p. m. the temperature was 70° Fahr., while at Memphis, Tenn., sev. 

 eral hundred miles farther south and east, it was seven degrees colder 

 (the mercury standing at 63°). This warm wave reached the Missouri 

 Biver at Yankton and Omaha on the night of May 16, the Mississippi 



