276 
ENSECTIV OROUS BIRDS. 
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, 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 12 or more feet from the 
ground. I did not examine it very near, but it ap- 
peared externally composed of coarse dry grass. The fe- 
male, when first seen, was engaged in sitting, and her 
mate wildly attacked every bird which approached their 
residence. This harsh chirping note of the male, kept up 
at intervals, as remarked by Mr. Say, almost resembled 
the barking of the Prairie Marmot, ’tsh 7 tsh ’tsh. His 
flowing, kite-like tail, spread or contracted at will while 
flying, is a singular trait in his plumage, and render- 
ed him conspicuously beautiful to the most careless ob- 
server. 
This fine bird is about 11 inches in length. The upper part of the 
head and neck is light grey ; back and scapulars dark cinereous, 
tinged with reddish-brown ; the rump of the same color but inclined 
to black, upper tail-coverts deep black. Beneath milk white, the 
flanks tinged with red; the inferior tail-coverts pale rosaceous. 
Wings brownish black, the upper coverts and secondaries margined 
externally and at tip with dull whitish; under wing-coverts white, 
tinged with rose ; axillary feathers above and beneath of a vivid 
scarlet. The tail very long and deeply forked, of a perfect black, 
each feather with its terminal margin of a dull whitish tint ; the 3 
exterior feathers on each side are of a pale rosaceous color, on a con- 
siderable part of their length from their bases ; the external one is 
5i| inches long, the 2d and 3d decrease gradually, but the 4th is dis- 
proportionately shorter ; from this feather there is a gradual decrease 
to the 6th, which is little more than 2 inches long. Bill and feet 
blackish. Irids brown. F emale nearly similar to the male. 
