THE KINGBIRD. 65 



day long the Kingbird sits in some place where he 

 can watch in the air about him, and all day long his 

 bill closes over flies, gnats, and beetles. 



Many, if not most, of the insects which he seizes are 

 at some time of their lives harmful to the farmer, so 

 that the Kingbird's work in feeding himself and his 

 children destroys thousands of the farmer's enemies. 



A Kingbird's nest is very easily found. You can 

 imagine that a bird that guards his home so thor- 

 oughly will take no great pains to conceal it. It is a 

 rather bulky nest, often placed in apple trees, and 

 looks very warm and comfortable. The outside is 

 very apt to be ornamented with clusters of withered 

 flowers of certain plants, and often long strings of 

 pack thread hang from the nest. Inside, the eggs 

 and the young rest on horsehair. 



The Kingbird's colors are brown and white, with 

 a dark, almost black, head and tail. Curiously enough, 

 a few feathers on the head are colored bright scarlet, 

 but so few are the feathers and so well concealed, as 

 a rule, that you would see many Kingbirds very near 

 you without ever seeing this red patch. 



When the bird is angry, however, or excited, he 

 can, like most fly-catchers, lift slightly the feathers of 

 his head, so that probably many of the birds he has 

 chased have seen more of the red than you have. 



The female Kingbird lacks these red feathers, but, 



