GRAY KINGBIRD 31 



seen in South Carolina since 1885. * * * Xliesc birds have longer 

 wings, culmen and middle toe than specimens from the Bahamas, 

 Florida, Greater Antilles and Caribbean Sea showing that the birds 

 that breed on the coast of South Carolina have a much longer distance 

 to travel and hence possess longer wings." 



Since Georgia intervenes between South Carolina and Florida, 

 one would expect rather more instances of the occurrence of domini- 

 censis there than in South Carolina, but in reality they are about 

 the same, though not so well known. Indeed, present-day workers 

 in Georgia ornithology seem imder the impression that there are 

 fewer records than actually exist! For instance, Ivan R. Tomkins, 

 of Savannah, says (1934) that "Rossignol [Gilbert H.] who is thor- 

 oughly familiar with the species in its normal range, saw and heard 

 a single bird near Quarantine Station June 8, 1933. Quarantine is 

 near the river mouth [Savannah] fourteen miles east of the city. 

 [The Savannah River is the South Carolina-Georgia line.] There 

 are no other Georgia records." 



Mr. Tomkins was in error in making this last statement, and it 

 seems important to clear the record. There were two records previous 

 to Rossignol's, and two have appeared since, making a total of five. 

 Of these, two are nesting records, which will be mentioned under 

 the heading "Nesting," while the others consist of a specimen taken 

 by Arnow at St. Marys, on August 1, 1905, and recorded by Troup D. 

 Perry (1911), and a sight record by Hoxie, which was reported by 

 Fargo (1934, p. 190). These South Carolina-Georgia records con- 

 stitute all that is known of the spring movements of the gray king- 

 bird outside of Florida. Extralimital records of fall occurrence will 

 be discussed later. 



Courtshi'p. — There seems little to add to Audubon's account (1840) 

 on this phase of the gray kingbird's history. He puts it so well 

 and covers the ground so accurately that observations of others since 

 have only been corroboration of it. He says : "During the love sea- 

 son, the male and the female are seen rising from a dry twig together, 

 either perpendicularly, or in a spiral manner, crossing each other 

 as they ascend, twittering loudly, and conducting themselves in a 

 manner much resembling that of the Tyrant Flycatcher." Baird, 

 Brewer, and Ridgway (1905) quote Richard Hill, of Spanish Town, 

 Jamaica, as saying practically the same thing as Audubon, but more 

 recent observers are reticent, probably because there is nothing much 

 to add. I have noted no variation of the above proceedings in my 

 observations of the mating flight except that on a few occasions there 

 was some pronounced snapping of the bill as the birds ascended in 

 the spiral manner. The courtship is usually performed in open 

 situations and is therefore conspicuous. 



