SWALLOW-TAILED FLYCATCHER.
Muscicapa forficata, Gmel.
PLATE CCCLIX. Male.
Not having seen this handsome bird alive, I am unable to give you any account of its habits from my own observation; but I have pleasure in supplying the deficiency by extracting the following notice from the “Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada,” by my excellent friend Thomas Nuttall.
“This very beautiful and singular species of Flycatcher is confined wholly to the open plains and scanty forests of the remote south-western regions beyond the Mississippi, where they, in all probability, extend their residence to the high plains of Mexico. I found these birds rather common near the banks of Red River, about the confluence of the Kiamesha. I again saw them more abundant, near the Great Salt River of the Arkansa in the month of August, when the young and old appeared, like our King Birds, assembling together previously to their departure for the south. They alighted repeatedly on the tall plants of the prairie, and were probably preying upon the grasshoppers, which were now abundant. At 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 twelve or more feet from the ground. I did not examine it very near, but it appeared externally composed of coarse dry grass. The female, when first seen, was engaged in sitting, and her mate wildly attacked every bird which approached their residence. The harsh chirping note of the male, kept up at intervals, as remarked by Mr Say, almost resembled the barking of the Prairie Marmot, ’tsh, ’tsh, ’tsh. His flowing kite-like tail, spread or contracted at will while flying, is a singular trait in his plumage, and rendered him conspicuously beautiful to the most careless observer.”
Muscicapa forficata Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 931.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 485.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 275.
Swallow-tailed Flycatcher, Muscicapa forficata, Bonap. Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 15, pl. 2, fig. 1.
Swallow-tailed Flycatcher, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 275.
Adult Male. Plate CCCLIX. Fig. 3.
Bill of moderate length, rather stout, subtrigonal, depressed at the base, straight; upper mandible with its dorsal outline nearly straight, and declinate, to near the tip, which is deflected, slender, compressed, and acute, the edges sharp and overlapping, with a slight notch close to the tip; lower mandible with the angle rather long and wide, the back broad at the base, the dorsal line ascending and very slightly convex, the edges sharp, the tip acute. Nostrils basal, roundish, partly covered by the bristly feathers.
Head rather large; neck short; body ovate. Feet short; tarsus with six anterior very broad scutella. Toes free, slender; the first stout, the lateral equal; claws rather long, arched, slender, much compressed, very acute.
Plumage soft and blended. Bristles at the base of the upper mandible strong. Wings rather long, the first four quills longest, with their inner webs emarginate and attenuate at the end. Tail very long, deeply forked, of twelve broad, rounded feathers.
Bill and feet black. Iris hazel. Upper part of the head, the cheeks, and the hind part and sides of the neck, ash-grey; scapulars and back darker and tinged with reddish-brown; the rump darker, the upper tail-coverts black. Wings brownish black, all the feathers margined with greyish-white, the anterior wing-coverts scarlet; tail-feathers deep black, with their terminal margins white, the three outer on each side pale rose-coloured to near the end. The throat, fore part of neck and breast, pure white; the sides, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts, and lower wing-coverts, pale rose-colour; the axillary feathers bright scarlet.
Length to end of tail 11 1/2 inches, to end of wings 7 1/2; tail to the fork 2 2/12, to the end 5 1/2; wing from flexure 5 1/8; bill along the ridge 5/8, along the edge of lower mandible 7/8; tarsus 3/4; hind toe 3/8, its claw 4/12; middle toe 5 1/2/12, its claw 3 1/2/12.