Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

SCI Name:  Tyrannus forficatus
Protonym:  M[uscicapa] forficata Syst.Nat. 1 pt2 p.931
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Tyrannidae / Tyrannus
Taxonomy Code:  sctfly
Type Locality:  Nova Hispania [= Mexico] .
Author:  Gmelin, JF
Publish Year:  1789
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

TYRANNUS
(Tyrannidae; Ϯ Eastern Kingbird T. tyrannus) Based on "Le Tyran.    Tyrannus" of Brisson 1760: "Tandis que la femelle couve, le mâle chasse d'auprès de son nid tous les Oiseaux; même les Faucons & les Aigles." (see tyrannus ●); "NEUVIÈME ORDRE.  Bec échancré.   24. PIE-GRIÈCHE. Lanius.   ...   25.TYRAN. Tyrannus. {Le bec long, droit, et garni de soies à sa base.    26. GOBE-MOUCHE. Muscicapa.   ...   27. MOUCHEROLLE. Muscivora" (de Lacépède 1799); "Tyrannus Lacepède, 1799, Tabl. Méth. Mamm. Ois., p. 5. Type, by tautonymy, Lanius tyrannus Linnaeus." (Traylor in Peters 1979, VIII, 221). The tyrants, pittas, broadbills and their allies form a very distinct group and should, perhaps, be separated from other passerines in a new order Subosciniformes.
Var. Tirannus, Tiranus, Tryannus.
Synon. Despotes, Dioctes, Drymonax, Laphyctes, Melittarchus, Milvulus, Muscivora, Myiocapta, Satellus, Semnarchus, Tolmarchus.

tyrannus
L. tyrannus  tyrant  < Gr. τυραννος turannos  tyrant.
● ex “Tyran à queue fourchue” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Tyrannus savana).
● “The courage of this little bird is singular. He pursues and puts to flight all kinds of birds that come near his station, from the smallest to the largest, none escaping his fury” (Catesby 1731); "43. LANIUS.  ...  Tyrannus.  4. L. vertice nigro: stria longitudinali fulva.  Muscicapa corona rubra. Catesb. car. I. p. 55. t. 55.  Pica americana cristata. Frisch. av. 4. t. 62.  Habitat in America septentrionali.  Color obscure cinereus, abdomine albo." (Linnaeus 1758)  (Tyrannus).

forficata / forficatus
Mod. L. forficatus  scissor-shaped  < L. forfex, forficis  pair of scissors  < forus  opening, gangway; facere  to make.
● ex “Engoulevent à Queue Fourchue” of Levaillant 1799, pl. 47 (unident.; ?Caprimulgus sp.).
● ex “Grand Gobe-mouche noir hupé de Madagascar” of Brisson 1760 (Dicrurus).
● ex “Swallow tail’d Hawk” of Catesby 1731 (Elanoides).
● ex “Gobe-mouche à queue fourchue du Méxique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 677, “Moucherolle à queue fourchue du Méxique” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Swallow-tailed Fly-catcher” of Latham 1783 (Tyrannus).
● "60. TROCHILUS.  ...  forficatus.  5. T. curvirostris, rectricibus lateralibus longissimis, corpore viridi, pileo rectricibusque cæruleis.  Polytmus major nigricans aureo varie splendens, pennis binis uropygii longissimis. Brown. jam. p. 475.  Mellivora viridis, cauda longa. Edw. av. 33. t. 33.  Mellivora avis minima. Sloan. jam. 2. p. 307. t. 264. f. 1.  Raj. av. 187.  Habitat in Jamaica.  Pennæ longissimæ basi suffultæ supra & infra pennula rigida." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.; nom. dub.).