EASTERN KmCBIRD 23 



not uncommon to see a Kingbird plunge several times into the water 

 from a post or tree, evidently for a bath, and afterward preen 

 itself. I have also seen this method of bathing in a small shallow 

 birds' bath." 



Of the brilliant feathers on the kingbird's crown, made visible 

 only by the parting of the surrounding feathers, J. A. Spurrell 

 (1919) says: "I have never seen the red crest on a living kingbird 

 except when displayed by a victorious male after defeating a rival." 

 Bayard H. Christy (1932), however, gives a vivid picture of a king- 

 bird using his crest for intimidation : 



On the river side of the [golf] course, at a clump of young pines, a Kingbird 

 was hovering and screaming, and, as I came near, I easily discovered the nest, 

 about twenty feet up, on a bough of one of the trees. As I stood at the base 

 of the tree, at the edge of the circle of the lower branches, the Kingbird came 

 plunging from above, directly toward my upturned face, and as it did so it 

 flashed out broadly its brilliant vermilion crown-patch. The effect was aston- 

 ishing: it gave the impression of a gaping mouth, venomous and menacing, 

 and, in spite of myself, I bowed my head before the attack. The bird did 

 not indeed strike, but passing me narrowly it rose to repeat the manoeuvre. 

 This was a sudden demonstration of an unsuspected value of this splendid 

 but ordinarily concealed item of decoration. Is it decoration? It seemed to 

 me that a wandering squirrel or snake, potent for mischief, might well by 

 such a display be driven off, before ever it had found the prize. 



Voice. — The voice of the kingbird is shrill, not overloud, with 

 only moderate carrying power and without a wide range of pitch. 

 The letters tzi suggest the simplest of his notes, although perhaps 

 Bendire's (1895) '■'■pthee^'' is as good a rendering. 



This note is delivered as a single, short, sharp exclamation, and 

 when lengthened or modulated in pitch forms the basis of several 

 more complicated utterances. It is often given alone, repeated 

 slowly over and over with a short pause between each note, or 

 repeated rapidly as a high, squeaky chatter, and it is frequently 

 combined with its lengthened form tzeee^ preceding or following 

 the longer note, which is strongly accented. Tzi^ tzee is a common 

 form. 



Such phrases are characteristic of the bird when in a quiet mood, 

 but when he is aroused to belligerency we hear him utter another 

 note as he flies out to battle, a double note with falling inflection 

 (often rendered kipper) cried out in long series which alternate 

 with emphatic shrieks. This battle cry is somewhat similar to the 

 courtship song mentioned under "Courtship." Kev. J. Hibbert 

 Langille (1884) indicates very well the mode of the kingbird's 

 enunciation when he says: "His sharp screeping note [is] coughed 

 out and accompanied by a jerk of the tail." 



The formal song of the kingbird is prettily described by Olive 

 Thorne Miller (1892), who was the first to publish an account of 



