32 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Nesting. — There is little time between the arrival of this species 

 from the Tropics and the commencement of its domestic duties. This 

 fact is quite apparent to any one familiar with the bird, and I quote 

 pertinent notes sent me by Francis M. Weston, of Pensacola, Fla. : 

 "The gray kingbird apparently starts nesting almost as soon as it 

 arrives. In 1932, a completed nest was found on May 15, only a few 

 days after the normal date of arrival, and the first egg was laid on 

 May 29. This was destined to be an unusual nest for by June 2 it con- 

 tained four eggs instead of the almost universal three. Another early 

 nesting, in 1933, resulted in the young birds being on the wing by 

 June 21, which means, if we assume that periods of incubation and 

 nest life are the same as for the eastern kingbird, that the first of three 

 eggs was laid not later than May 29. Occupied nests can be found 

 from early in June until early in August, though the late nests may 

 be the result of repeated attempts to raise a single brood rather than 

 true second nestings." 



During the breeding season, as at other times except migration, this 

 species is essentially a seaside lover. It displays little fear of man, 

 and the nest may be approached closely, with the bird remaining 

 either on it or in the immediate vicinity. One nest that I examined 

 on Pavilion Key, amid the Ten Thousand Islands, Fla., was very 

 jealously guarded, and the birds remained in close proximity during 

 the time it was being photographed. This strictly littoral habit seems 

 general throughout its range, and at the western extremity (Pensacola, 

 Fla.) F. M. Weston (MS.) has described it as follows: "During the 

 breeding season it is confined almost exclusively to the dense jungle 

 of saw palmetto, vines, scrubby live oak, and stunted magnolia that 

 clothe the landward side of the high range of sand dunes that front 

 the Gulf beach on this part of the coast. The only departure from 

 this habit that has come to my attention was the location of a pair for 

 three consecutive summers among the trees and gardens of the officers' 

 quarters at the Naval Air Station, still on the waterfront but more 

 than a mile from the outer beach." 



Of the only two nesting sites of this species recorded from South 

 Carolina, one was in the city of Charleston itself, and since the latter 

 occupies a peninsula, salt water is nowhere far off. As it happens, this 

 urban site was about midway between the two rivers bounding the 

 strip of land that the city occupies, about three-quarters of a mile 

 from either. The nest itself must strike anyone who has seen it as 

 decidedly unsubstantial. The term "flimsy" has been employed by both 

 A. H. Howell and F. M. Weston in describing it. All the nests seen 

 by me have been of that character, and in several the contours of the 

 eggs were visible from beneath, through the nest material. Thus, it 

 differs materially from the nest of the eastern kingbird, which is dis- 



