July, 1916 
MEETING SPRING HALF WAY 
153 
character, the Seissor-tailed Flycatcher, one of the birds that makes Texas 
peculiarly attractive to the bird student. To easterners, to whom the name 
Flycatcher calls up drab Phoebes, pensive Wood Pewees, plainly clad King- 
birds, and small olivaceous Empidonaxes hard to find in the green woods, the 
first sight of the Scissor-tail is little less than astounding. Nature, apparently 
tired of making Quaker garbs for retiring woodlanders cut a new pattern, on 
Swallow-tailed Kite lines, adding splashes of salmon to the striking black and 
white plumage, after which she endowed her creation with the skill of an acro- 
bat, the dash and fire of a master spirit of the air. 
Between its noisy acrobatic feats the Scissor-tail sits demurely on a tele- 
phone wire, apparently its favorite perch, though it looks much too large to 
perch on a wire. But the long scissors that open and shut so effectively during 
aerial displays keep a nice balance, and after all, though making such a brave 
appearance, forficata is mainly wings and tail, feathers and fire. Giving chase 
to Hawks and Caracaras — the Mexican Eagles used as the national emblem of 
Mexico — is every day sport, and no chance is lost to show who is lord of the 
neighborhood. A pair of the Flycatchers that I happened on had a nest in a 
low tree and the female was quietly brooding when a strange Scissor-tail ap- 
peared. The guardian of the nest waited to ask no questions but darted at him 
in fury. As the two chased through the air, to our amusement the brooding 
bird jumped up on the edge of the nest and stood looking after them. When 
the visitor had been driven from the landscape the lord of the nest performed 
a series of aerial evolutions as if to relieve his outraged feelings. The curious 
performances of these original birds entertained us all the way across south- 
ern Texas. 
From Austin to San Antonio we were crossing their country, the mesquite 
end of the great prairie that extends from the Gulf to the Saskatchewan, and 
between cotton fields, flowers filled the spaces among the mesquite trees. In 
San Antonio as in Austin we found northward bound Waxwings and White- 
throated Sparrows still lingering, while Martins, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, and 
Jackdaws swelled the list of city birds that might well make northerners envi- 
ous. But though San Antonio has become a bustling American city, Mocking- 
birds may still sing in the plaza by moonlight and many picturesque, softly 
tinted adobes on the outskirts keep the flavor of the old Spanish town and 
hark back to the days of the Alamo. 
On our way from San Antonio to Corpus Christ! we crossed more arid 
mesquite and cactus country where the wind comes from the dry interior and 
there is practically a northward extension of the Mexican flora and fauna. 
Large herds of cattle and men on the round up were seen, for most of the 
country was then, in 1900, given over to cattle range. At Beeville this arid, 
barren, mesquite plain changed to fertile coast prairie on which there were 
strips of scrub oak and a mixture of chaparral, with some new flowers and old 
ones in new combinations. A heliotrope-like purple Phaeelia grew in masses 
along the railroad, and scattered among the white poppies a magenta Callir- 
rhoe gave rich color as the western light shone through its broad petals, while 
masses of yellow evening primrose added to the rich effect. A glorious prai- 
rie sunset ending in deep red and purple told that we had entered the humid 
coast belt. 
But back from Corpus Christi Bay, where we stopped for a little work, 
the prairie cover was a mixture of mesquite, cactus, and wind-compacted chap- 
