ek Soe Ces De OUND BU Th le ee ST oN 2 
Record of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 
By JOHN BURSEWICZ 
AT APPROXIMATELY TEN O’CLOCK in the morning on June 15, 1958, three 
to five miles west of Danville, Illinois, on route 150, I observed an adult 
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher fly across the road. The light conditions were ideal 
with the sun out and overhead. The terrain was relatively level grassland 
with numerous cultivated areas. Rains, the previous week, had left the 
area rather saturated with water, and sinks were forming at the time that 
I observed the bird. 
I was traveling west; the bird was first seen flying south across the road 
about one hundred feet ahead of me. The sun blotted out all color, and the 
bird appeared as though it might be an Icterid of some sort that was carry- 
ing nesting material which trailed behind. As the bird crossed the road, 
with the sun now on it, I noticed that the so-called nesting material was 
actually two enormous plumes set at right angles on the posterior end of 
the abdomen. Because of the long tail, the flight was bumpy. A buffy gray 
head and abdomen, along with reduced black and pink around the wing's, 
was observed. 
Since I had observed scissor-tails in Texas, the enormous length of the 
tail, the color placement, and the characteristic flight led me to the con- 
clusion that this bird was indeed a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Muscivora 
forficata. 
110 Kirby Ave., Champaign 
pa a = 
Book Review 
THE GLoRY TRAIL. By Ernest Swift, 1958. National Wildlife Federation, 232 
Carroll Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 50 pages; single copies free. 
This 20,000 word essay, often bitter with incisive comment, traces the 
history of the United States and the great American migration with 
its impact on the natural resources of a wilderness continent. As the early 
settlers moved ever westward and as the plow followed the axe, wildlife 
and wilderness disappeared with painful and costly results to the settler 
and his family as well as to the country. But considering the times, the set- 
tler, the country, the wildlife and the wilderness, could the results have been 
other than what they were? As the author points out in his foreword, the 
purpose of the booklet is to arouse interest in resource history, and for that 
objective, a fine bibliography is listed at the end of the work, 
Our early forefathers were not all rogues: as early as 1708, the Ruffed 
Grouse, Quail, Wild Turkey and Heath Hen were given limited protection 
by New York, and Massachusetts was protecting deer back in 1694. While 
single copies are free, high school biology teachers and others may obtain 
bulk quantities for 25c per copy. 
Raymond Mostek, 615 Rochdale Circle, Lombard, Illinois 
