FLYCATCHERS 249 



Assiniboia and British Columbia south through Lower California ; migrates 

 through western Mexico to Guatemala. 



Nest. — In bushes or trees usualh- not far from the g-round, made of 

 twigs, weed stems, plant fibers, rootlets, wool, cocoons, hair, feathers, 

 string, thistle down, and paper. Eggs: usually 4, similar to those of Tyran- 

 nus tyrannus. 



Food. — Mainly grasshoppers, with moths, butterflies, flies, winged ants, 

 caterpillars, and large black crickets. 



The Arkansas kingbird is a masterful, positive character, and when 

 you come into his neighborhood you are verj^ likely to know it, for 

 he seems to be always screaming and scrimmaging. If he is not over- 

 head twisting and turning with wings open and square tail spread 

 so wide that it shows the wdiite lines that border it, he is climbing 

 up the air claw to claw^ with a rival, falling to ground clinched with 

 him, or dashing after a hawk, screaming in thin falsetto like a scis- 

 sor-tail flycatcher. A passing enemy is allowed no time to loiter 

 but driven from the field with impetuous onslaught and clang of 

 trumpets. Be he crow, hawk, or owl, he is escorted to a safe dis- 

 tance, sometimes actually ridden by the angry kingbird, who, like 

 the scissor-tail, enforces his screams with sharp pecks on the back. 



When there is no one within scrapping distance he may be seen 

 perching on a meadow fence or telegraph wire, for he is a bird of 

 the open country. When perched he is on the lookout for insects, 

 and dashes out for one to soar back on outspread wings and tail, 

 shrieking triumphantly as he comes. His notes have the thin high 

 pitch and something of the emphasis and iteration of the coyote. 



448. Tyrannus VOCiferans Swains. Cassin Kingbird. 



Adults. — Upper parts and breast dark gray, chin abruptly m bite ; belly 

 lemon yellow ; tail dull black indistinctly 

 tipped with grayish, outer web of outer feather 

 indistinctly edged with giayish ; wing ivith tips 

 of longest primaries abruptly cut out ; crown with 

 concealed red patch. Young: duller, wing 

 coverts ecWd with rustv, crown patch wanting. 

 Fig. 326. Length: 8.7.-)-i».(»0. wing 5.00-5.40, tail 3.70- 



4.20. bill from nostril .r)5-.0O. 

 Distribution. — Breeds irregularly in Transition, but chiefly in Upper 

 and Lower Sonoran zones from the eastern slopes of the Ivocky Mountains 

 to southern Wyoming, western Texas. New Mexico, and Arizona, and from 

 ()re<i(»n south to Lower <'alifornia and the mountains Ixirdering tlie Mexi- 

 can tal)lelands ; straying soiith to Costa Rica. 



Nest. — Bulky, of similar m;iterials to that of verticalis, placed generally 

 20 to 40 feet from the ground, near the end of a horizontJil liml) in syca- 

 mori'. Cottonwood, or other tree. Eggs : 2 to 5, similar to those of 2)/rati- 

 nus tyrannus. 



Food. — Mainly insects, including gra.sshoppers, locusts, and caterpillars. 



The Cassin kingbird. Major Bendire says, is neither as noisy nor as 

 ([uarrclsome as the Arkansas. Though it nests in the valleys with 



