(1934-1935) in La Grange, Cook County. There were no 
further records until 1933 when it was again recorded in 
Cook County by W. Dreuth in Lincoln Park (Clark & 
Nice 1950). In 1947 a scissor-tail was seen at Wolf Lake, 
Indiana, within one-fourth mile of the Illinois boundary 
(Bartel 1947), and in 1954 one was seen south of Chicago 
(Nolan 1954). 
There were only two state records outside of the Cook 
County area for about a decade preceding the 1960's. 
One scissor-tailed flycatcher was seen in Jackson County 
in 1949 (Mayfield 19496) and another was seen in 
Vermilion County in 1958 (Bursewicz 1958). More recent 
records are those for Havana (Graber & Graber 1965); 
Neponset (Fawks 1967a); Lacon (Fawks 1967a, 1967b); 
American Bottoms between St. Louis and Chester 
(Hamilton 1969, Fleig 1971); Fultz, with at least five 
reports from this area, (Anderson 1968); Dixon Springs 
Agricultural Center (Seets, personal communication 
1972); Elmwood (Princen 1968, 1969); Anna (Fawks 
1970); Sibley (John Hudson, personal communication 
1972); Sparta and Valmeyer (R. Anderson, personal 
communication 1969, 1972). The preponderance of 
earlier records for the Cook County area can in part be 
explained by more thorough coverage of the area by a 
number of competent observers. However, the overall 
pattern of Illinois records (Fig. 11) suggests that the 
SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER 
DISTRIBUTION RECORDS 
JUNE - JULY 15 
O 1950— 
J\ 1900 — 1949 
1 BEFORE 1900 
§ SPRING RECORD 
(before June) 
fF FALL RECORD 
(after July 15) 
Fig. 11. — Distribution of the scissor-tailed flycatcher in Illinois. 
12 
species is increasing in occurrence and that the disp: 
pattern is from southwest to northeast. Illinois typic 
has a predominant southwest flow of wind that c 
facilitate movement of this flycatcher from its bree 
range (or center of distribution) in the southwest toy 
the northeast. 
Of the Illinois records, the earliest is April 15 anc 
latest is August 7, with three occurring in April, for 
May, three in June, four in July, and one in August, 
of the June records may be of the same bird, and t 
are two reports that did not specify dates other 
“spring” or “summer.” The presence of both sex 
Illinois in summer and the fact that the speci 
extending its breeding range to the northeast (Grab 
Graber 1965) appears to presage the nesting of this 
in the state in the future. 
GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER 
(Myiarchus crinitus) 
(Fig. 12 and 13) 
Spring Migration 
Crested flycatchers are presumed to be night mig 
on the basis of their occasional occurrence amon; 
species of birds killed at television towers (Stodda 
Norris 1967). This does not preclude the possibility 
they also migrate by day. 
Crested flycatchers have been seen as early as Ap 
in southern Illinois, and April 20-21 in the centra. 
northern regions (Fig. 14). The influx of cre 
increases conspicuously after April 20 in southern Ill 
April 28 in central Illinois, and May 6 in the north, 
numbers remain high throughout May and the first 
in June. As also reported by Widmann (1907), we 
found crested flycatchers to be very consistent i! 
timing of their spring arrival. 
Our spring counts show the migrant populatic 
cresteds to be consistently higher on the western si 
the state than on the east (Fig. 14). We cannot ex 
this difference. 
Distribution 
The crested flycatcher’s breeding range is esse! 
the eastern half of the United States and adj 
southern Canada (Fig. 13). The Illinois distributi 
this species is poorly known; though we suspect thi 
species nests in every Illinois county, actual bre 
records are still lacking for some counties (Fig. 15, 
Nesting Habitats and Populations 
The great crested flycatcher is essentially 4 
species that frequents the upper canopy of f 
(Ridgway 1889, Hankinson 1915, Twomey 1945). Ii 
in forest interiors as well as forest edge and in u 
forest as well as bottomland (Gates 1911; Carpenter 
Kendeigh 1941, 1944; Table 2). Cresteds are also. 
