GREETING HIS MATE. 9 



even when the demands of three infants kept 

 them busy from morning till night, he never 

 forgot this little civility to his helpmate. If she 

 alighted beside him on the fence, he rose a few 

 inches above his perch, and flew around in a 

 small circle while greeting her; and sometimes, 

 on her return to the nest, he described a larger 

 circle, talking (as I must call it) all the time. 

 Occasionally, when she approached, he flew out 

 to meet and come back with her, as if to escort 

 her. Could this bird, to his mate so thoughtful 

 and polite, be to the rest of the world the bully 

 he is pictured? Did he, who for ten months of 

 the year shows less curiosity about others, and 

 attends more perfectly to his own business than 

 any bird I have noticed, suddenly, at this crisis 

 in his life, become aggressive, and during these 

 two months of love and paternity and hard work, 

 make war upon a peaceful neighborhood ? 



I watched closely. There was not an hour of 

 the day, often from four A. M. to eight P. M., 

 that I had not the kingbird and his nest directly 

 in sight, and hardly a movement of his life es- 

 caped me. There he stood, on the fence under 

 his tree, on a dead bush at the edge of the bay, 

 or on the lowest limb of a small pear-tree in the 

 yard. Sometimes he dashed into the air for his 

 prey; sometimes he dropped to the ground to 

 secure it; but oftenest, especially when baby 



