GRAY KINGBIRD 29 



Egg 6Za^<?5.— British Columbia : 10 records, July 6 to July 7. 



Colorado : 13 records, June 7 to 25. 



Florida : 5 records, May 3 to June 11. 



Illinois: 20 records, May 2 to July 27; 10 records, June 11 to 21, 

 indicating the height of the season. 



Massachusetts; 34 records. May 30 to June 30; 18 records, June 

 5 to 20. 



Ontario : 19 records, May 30 to July 21 ; 10 records, June 12 to 25. 



Pennsylvania: 21 records, May 23 to July 14; 11 records, June 

 1 to 11. 



TYRANNUS DOMINICENSIS DOMINICENSIS (Gmelin) 



GRAY KINGBIRD 



Pl.\te 5 



HABITS 

 CONTEIBUTED BY AlEXANDEK SPEUNT, Js. 



Every field ornithologist can call to mind certain observations that 

 stand out indelibly in memory, not so much because of the rarity 

 of the species involved but because of the general combination of 

 circumstances surrounding it. Indeed, such a recollection might deal 

 with a locally abundant bird, or one that the observer has seen many, 

 many times, but the particular situation and conditions are such as 

 to frame it permanently in memory. I have such a one in mind 

 in connection with the gray kingbird. 



In company with a northern ornithologist, I was, one May after- 

 noon, at the Pan American Airport in Coconut Grove, Miami, Fla., 

 watching one of the great "clippers" being hauled up the ramp by 

 a puffing little tractor. The ship was placed on level ground and 

 the tractor departed elsewhere. As we stood there, marveling at the 

 intricate fabric before us, a quick shadow fell across us and a small 

 gray bird swept overhead, chattered once or twice, and came to 

 rest on the tail fin of the plane. My companion promptly lost in- 

 terest in the latter and with an exclamation, focused a pair of glasses 

 on the newcomer and stared at it intently. It was the first gray 

 kingbird ever seen through those glasses; a new bird for the "life 

 list," another of many "hoped for" si^ecies on that trip. 



It is always a satisfaction to show a companion a new bird, and 1 

 enjoyed it from that angle, but there was something else about that 

 sight that was tremendously appealing and eminently fitting. That 

 trim gray bird sitting there on the huge gray plane inevitably 

 started a train of thought. Two travelers of the sky they were; 

 the one a tiny, fragile mechanism of flesh, bone, and feather, mar- 

 velously efficient and imbued with life. The other a gigantic com- 



