Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS

THE FREE-TOED PERCHING BIRDS

THE TYRANT-BIRDS

Vermilion and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers

As an example of the bright colors that occasionally occur among the Tyrant-birds we may mention the Vermilion Flycatchers (Pyrocephalus), of which some half dozen forms are recognized. They are small birds, from four and a half to five and a half inches long, ranging from the southern United States to Argentina and the Galapagos Islands. In the form reaching the United States (P. rubineus mexicanus) the adult male has the whole top of the crested head as well as the entire lower parts a bright scarlet, while the remainder of the upper parts are a brownish gray. The mature female is brownish gray above, and streaked whitish, tinged posteriorly with pale red below. Even more striking is the splendid Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Muscivora forficata), which ranges from eastern Mexico into the southwestern United States as far as Missouri and Kansas, and accidentally much farther. The mature male is light bluish-gray above, tinged with red on the back and white below, washed on sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts with salmon-pink, while the axillaries and a concealed crown spot are scarlet; the long, deeply forked tail is chiefly white; the length is between twelve and fifteen inches, of which seven to ten inches are included in the tail. Of the habits and appearance of the Scissor-tail, McCauley gives the following account, his observations having been made along the Red River of Texas: “This peculiarly beautiful and graceful bird was one of the species most frequently seen. They were especially active in the evening, just before dusk, skimming about in pursuit of insects with wonderful rapidity. As the males fly about the camp with their mates, in the twilight, you can single them out by the greater length of their tails. The two elegant feathery tines cross and open at volition, whence the ordinary simile to a pair of scissors. These birds are grace itself when on wing, darting here and there as quick as thought, in buoyant sweeps and curves. The delicate crimson below their wings, as they go glancing by, glows in contrast with the beautiful hoary ash of their general plumage. ... In the evening they were particularly shy, avoiding close proximity to the camp; in the early morning, however, they seemed to be less suspicious of our presence. This was very noticeable in going up the Palo Duro, where they would sometimes fly closely by or alight within a dozen yards and poise upon a branch of a small bush, like the Field-lark. They were found frequenting the fringe of timber bordering the streams as far as their headwaters in the Staked Plains."

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