THE WESTERN KINGBIRD. 



375 



and dissected o\-er a hundred specimens of Western Kingbirds and Phoebes, 

 using a microscope in the examination of stomacii contents. The birds had 

 been sliot about the apiaries, where tiiey had been seen darting upon and 

 catciiing bees. Ahho many of the birds were gorged, no working bees were 

 found, only drones. This is an important distinction to bear in mind, for tlie 

 reduction of drones is unqualifiedly beneficial. And when one stops to think 

 of it, it is absurd to suppose that a bird could swallow bees, stings and all, 

 with impunity. 



But the real secret of Kingbird's attachment for mankind is not dis- 

 co\-ered until we see his nest. It is our strings which have won his lieart. 

 Whatever else the nest may or may n(_)t contain, it is sure to have string, — 

 string in strands, string in coils, string in bunches, hanks, and tangles, drug 

 store string of a dissipated crimson hue, white string that came around the 

 sugar, greasy string that }i_iu had tied "around vour finger to remind you to 

 feed the chickens, string of e\'er}' length and size and use and hue. 



Those Western Kingbirds which have not yet adopted men manage to 

 subsist somewhat after the fashion of their eastern cousins, and build a nest of 

 twigs, grass, weed-stalks, bark strips, and cottonwood down, placing it against 

 the trunk, or saddling it upon a horizontal fork of willow, poplar, cottonwood, 

 or pine, usually near water. One we found in Douglas County built in a small 

 willow which emerged from a shallow lake, a hundred feet from shi:)re. 



But, more commonlv, nests are placed about crannies and projections of 

 farm buildings, fences, unused wagon-ricks, or upon the house itself. If no 

 such conveni- _,- 

 ences offer, a 

 shade tree is 

 second choice, 

 and the nest 

 includes a 1 1 

 the soft waste 

 which t h ' 

 farm afifords. 

 bits of cloth. 



wool, COAV- 



hair, feathers, 

 and string. 



Eggs to the 

 number of 4 

 or 5 are depos- 

 ited from the 

 1st to the 



15th of June. A DIVIDED HOUSE. 



r,j/.ii at Sn 



Photo by the Author. 



