EASTERN KINGBIRD 15 



abandoned railroad tie, whose end had been somewhat hollowed by 

 decay. * * * The top of the post was only about four feet above 

 the ground." 



The kingbird often shows its fondness for water by nesting on 

 stumps or snags on submerged land. For example, Ralph Works 

 Chaney (1910), writing of Michigan, says: "This species might be 

 considered almost aquatic in its nesting habits, as the nests were in- 

 variably placed in stumps projecting out of the water, often at a 

 considerable distance from the shore," and William Brewster (1937) 

 speaks of kingbirds breeding "along stub-lined shores bordering on 

 northerly reaches of the Lake [Umbagog] or on shallow lagoons in 

 the heavily-timbered bottom-lands of the Lower Megalloway. Those 

 frequenting all such localities nested mostly within hollow tree- 

 trunks. * * * Of the nests thus placed some were sunk eight or 

 ten inches below the upper rim of the cavity and hence invisible save 

 from above, others so near it that the sitting bird, and perhaps also a 

 small portion of the nest, could be seen by any one passing beneath." 

 Of eccentric situations where kingbirds have nested, we may note 

 two instances in which a nest was built on the reflector of an electric 

 street light— A. C. Gardner (1921) and Rolf D. Rohwer (1933)— and 

 a very remarkable report of its nesting in a rain gauge, Lincoln 

 Ellison (1936). Stranger still, perhaps, are two cases of kingbirds 

 appropriating oriole's nests for their own use. Henry Mousley 

 (1916) tells of a pair of kingbirds that "took possession of an old 

 Baltimore Oriole's nest in the top of a maple tree in front of my 

 house, in which strange home they laid a third set of eggs and brought 

 up a brood," and Clarence Cottam (1938) cites "the successful occu- 

 pancy by an Eastern Kingbird * * * of a deserted hanging nest 

 of a Bullock Oriole. * * * The nest * * * was attached 

 about 12 feet above the ground to some terminal and partly drooping 

 branches of a cottonwood tree." Edward R. Ford (MS.) writes that 

 he saw a kingbird sitting on a nest which had been built and used by 

 cedar waxwings the year before. 



The lieight above the ground of the kingbird's nest varies consid- 

 erably : J. K. Jensen (1918) gives the extremes as "from two to sixty 

 feet." 



Of "a typical nest" taken in Minnesota, Bendire (1895) says: It 

 "measures about by^ inches in outer diameter by 314 inches in depth ; 

 its inner diameter is 3 inches by 1% inches deep. Its exterior is con- 

 structed of small twigs and dry weed stems, mixed with cottonwood 

 down, pieces of twine, and a little hair. The inner cup is lined with 

 fine dry gi-ass, a few rootlets, and a small quantity of horsehair." 

 Continuing, he says : "Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny tells me that in the willow 

 swamps in southern Louisiana these birds construct their nests en- 



