16 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tirely out of willow catkins, without any sticks whatever, and that 

 the nests can be squeezed together in the hand like a ball." Here in 

 New England, where the birds breed in orchards and dooryards and 

 near farm buildings, they often pick up bits of cloth, straw, feathers 

 and pieces of string and add them to their nest. J. J. Murray (MS.) 

 says that in Lexington, Va., a favorite material is sheep wool and that 

 the birds often nest in trees along the edge of pastures where wool is 

 easily obtained. 



Kingbirds appear to have a very strong attachment to the nesting 

 site they have chosen and return year after year to its immediate 

 vicinity. Roy Latham (1924) gives a striking illustration of this 

 tendency at his home on Long Island, N. Y. In spite of "develop- 

 ment" that changed the face of the country, the kingbirds did not 

 desert it. He says: "The wild cherries are gone, the old line-fences 

 are gone, and the Bob-whites are gone. But year after year a pair of 

 Kingbirds return each May and carefully select a nesting-tree. 

 Every tree on the homestead has been used — some thrice over. In 

 all those thirty-five summers the Kingbirds have not failed once to 

 bring off a full brood. Yet in the entire period there has never been 

 a second pair breeding on the premises, or to my knowledge, making 

 any attempt to nest within the limits of the yard." 



Kingbirds are averse to having another pair of kingbirds nest near 

 them, but they do not object to nesting near other species of birds. 

 As an extreme illustration of this habit, Charles M. Morse (1931) 

 published a photograph of two occupied nests 14 inches apart, one a 

 kingbird's, the other a robin's. He says: "The two families lived in 

 perfect harmony." 



S. F. Rathbun wrote to Mr. Bent: "Once, when I was in eastern 

 Washington, I ran across a nest of this kingbird in a small tree at 

 the edge of a stream. Within 300 feet a pair of Arkansas fly- 

 catchers had a nearly completed nest in another tree, and not far 

 away a pair of ash-throated flycatchers were nesting in a box placed 

 under the eaves of a dwelling. To me it was of interest to see these 

 three species of flycatchers nesting so near each other." 



M. G. Vaiden, of Rosedale, Miss., wrote to Mr. Bent : "I found lo- 

 cated in a large native pecan tree a nest of the kingbird, wood pewee, 

 red-eyed vireo, two English sparrow nests, and the nest of a Balti- 

 more oriole. All seemed more or less in perfect accord except the 

 wood pewee, whose nesting territory had been crowded by the home 

 of one of the sparrows. The wood pewee seemed to do most of the 

 fighting, with little if any attention paid by the sparrow. Each 

 probably had a vertical and horizontal area that they defended, 

 should the occasion arise." 



