Kingbird WESTERN BIRDS 



for being a feathered tyrant, a reputation which Mrs. 

 Miller, and others, think he does not deserve. My ex- 

 perience with these western birds is quite similar to Mrs. 

 Miller's with the eastern. I found them to be anything 

 but tyrants. Never have I seen them molest another 

 bird unless that bird was one as large as themselves 

 that was taking too keen an interest in their nesting-pole. 

 The smaller birds they allowed to perch quite near. Cats 

 and dogs they drove down the street, picking them on 

 back or tail as they ran. 



GENUS TYRANNUS: CASSIN'S 

 KINGBIRD. 



Gassin's Kingbird: Tyrannus vociferans. 

 FAMILY— FLYCATCHERS. 



Cassin's Kingbird resembles the Arkansas, but is not 

 nearly so common. The drab of its plumage is darker; 

 it has the yellow belly; the outer web of outer tail 

 feather is less distinctly edged, and the tip of tail is 

 indistinctly tipped with grayish. The close observer will 

 notice that the tips of longest wing feathers are abruptly 

 cut out. 



Prof. Beal says of this bird in Bulletin No. 44: "Cas- 

 sin's Kingbird occupies in the breeding season the west- 

 ern portion of the United States from the eastern slope 

 of the Rocky Mountains westward to the Pacific and 

 north to central California and southern Wyoming. It 

 is rather irregularly distributed in this region and is 

 entirely wanting over considerable areas." 



Like the Arkansas, it prefers open, park-like country 

 to forests, but is said to be more of a mountain bird 

 and to breed at higher altitudes. It winters in southern 

 California as far north as Santa Barbara. 



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