60 BULLETIX 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



hunting for nests of Scott's oriole, we found a nest of this kingbird 

 built in the upright, dead flower stalk of a soapweed yucca 14 feet 

 from the ground. 



Where no suitable trees are available, the Arkansas kingbird is 

 most adaptable and versatile in the selection of a nesting site, being 

 satisfied to utilize almost any form of human structure that will hold 

 its nest, preferably such stable structures as telephone or telegraph 

 poles, fence posts, stationary towers, parts of buildings, or boxes set 

 up for that purpose; but in many cases the chosen site is far from 

 stationary or secure, with resulting disaster. The following quota- 

 tions will illustrate its versatility. 



Major Bendire (1895) writes: 



Mr. William G. Smith informs me that in Colorado they nest occasionally 

 on ledges. Dr. C. T. Cocke writes me that a pair of these birds nested in the 

 summer of 1891 in a church steeple in Salem, Oregon, and Mr, Elmer T. Judd, 

 of Cando, North Dakota, informs me that he found a nest on a beam of a rail- 

 road windmill pump, about 6 feet from the ground, where trains passed close by 

 the nest constantly ; another was found by him on a grainbinder which was 

 standing within a couple of rods of a public schoolhouse. 



I have examined many of their nests in various parts of the West. * * • 

 One nest was placed in the top of a hollow Cottonwood stump, the rim of the 

 nest being flush with the top; another pair made use of an old nest of the 

 Western Robin ; and still another built on the sill of one of the attic windows 

 of my quarters at Fort Lapwai, Idaho. They probably would not have suc- 

 ceeded in keeping this nest in place had I not nailed a piece of board along 

 the outside to prevent the wind from blowing the materials away as fast as 

 the birds could bring them. They were persistent, however, and not easily dis- 

 couraged, working hard for a couple of days in trying to secure a firm founda- 

 tion before I came to tlieir assistance. Both birds were equally diligent in the 

 construction of their home until it was nearly finished, when the female did 

 most of the arranging of the inner lining, and many a consultation was evi- 

 dently indulged in between the pair before the nest was finally ready for occu- 

 pation, a low twittering being kept up almost constantly. It took just a week 

 to build it. 



John G. Tyler (1913), writing of the Fresno district, Calif., says: 



Formerly they resorted to the framework of flumes, windmills, outbuildings, 

 and even the tops of fence posts ; but of recent years the rural telephone lines 

 that have thrown their network of wires and poles all over the valley have 

 provided nesting sites galore, and of a kind seemingly exactly suited to the 

 requirements of these birds. * * * Where the lines cross entrances to 

 farmhouses or intersecting roads, * * * the wires are raised several feet. 

 * * * This additional height is attained by nailing two two-inch pieces to the 

 original pole on opposite sides, thus leaving a four inch platform protected on 

 two sides, in which a nest just fits sungly. A drive through the country during 

 the summer months now reveals a pair of kingbirds tenanted in nearly every 

 such pole. 



Lee Raymond Dice (1918) mentions a nest near Wallula, Wash., 

 on a hay derrick ; the bird remained on the nest even while the derrick 

 was in use ; a nest was observed in a barn, and another on a fence post, 



