Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A tyrant flycatcher (Milvulus forficatus) of the Southern United States and Mexico, which has a deeply forked tail. It is light gray above, white beneath, salmon on the flanks, and fiery red at the base of the crown feathers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A tyrant flycatcher (Milvulus forficatus) of the southern United States and Mexico, with a deeply forked tail, and coloured fiery red at the base of the crown feathers.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

scissors +‎ tail

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Examples

  • If the wings were outstretched, representing the bird in the act of alighting or shifting his position, the picture would be true to scissorstail life.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • He is a sort of southern twin of our scissorstail.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • As his name indicates, our bird is the proud possessor of a genuine scissorstail, composed of two long, slender prongs that are spread far apart under certain conditions of flight.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • Then for a few minutes there was such a chaos of shrike and scissorstail that we could scarcely tell which was which.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • My surmise was correct; it was the scissorstail flycatcher, one of the most unique and handsome birds belonging to our American avifauna, one that merits more than a passing notice.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • It must be remembered that the shrike himself makes a handsome picture on the wing, and when you come to mix up a scissorstail and a shrike in inextricable confusion, you have a feathery display worth seeing.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • It would not be safe to risk saying that the scissorstail always takes his bath in this way; but I know this one did.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • Nor was that the end of the exhibition, for in a moment a second scissorstail, the precise _facsimile_ of the first, appeared from somewhere, and the two flycatchers combined against their enemy.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • It was a year or two later that I saw a scissorstail performing his ablutions in the northwestern part of Arkansas.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • My friend and I were privileged to witness a rare and attractive scissorstail show, more gratifying than any circus performance.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

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