ARKANSAS KINGBIRD 65 



flight, as I saw it, was swallowlike, darting this way and that, but this 

 may have been due to the abundance of the flies upon which it was 

 feeding, which made it unnecessary to return to the perch after each 

 capture. While it was perched on a point of rock near the beach, 

 where the flies were particularly thick, it often simply reached out 

 after a fly and picked it out of the air." 



The fact that so much of its food consists of grasshoppers and 

 ground-inhabiting beetles indicates that much of its prey must be 

 secured on or near the ground. Its fondness for grasshoppers is shown 

 by the fact that Mr. Ridgway's (1877) captive bird was fed 120 

 grasshoppers in one day. 



Behavior. — I cannot do better than to quote the following well- 

 chosen words of Mrs. Bailey (1902b) on the behavior of this spirited 

 bird: 



The Arkansas kingbird is a masterful, positive character, and when you come 

 into his neighborhood you are very likely to know it, for he seems to be always 

 screaming and scrimmaging. If he is not overhead twisting and turning with 

 wings open and square tail spread so wide that it shows the white lines that 

 border it, he is climbing up the air claw to claw with a rival, falling to ground 

 clinched with him, or dashing after a hawk, screaming in thin falsetto like a 

 scissor-tail flycatcher. A passing enemy is allowed no time to loiter but driven 

 from the field with impetuous onslaught and clang of trumpets. Be he crow, 

 hawk, or owl, he is escorted to a safe distance, sometimes actually ridden by 

 the angry kingbird, who, like the scissor-tail, enforces his screams with sharp 

 peeks on the back. 



While the above described behavior is doubtless characteristic, this 

 bird is not always as hostile toward hawks as Mrs. Bailey's remarks 

 indicate. I found a pair of kingbirds occupying a nest within a few 

 yards of an occupied nest of a Swainson's hawk. And Major Bendire 

 (1895) says: "They are undoubtedly more social than the common 

 Kingbird, as I have seen two pairs nesting in the same tree, apparently 

 living in perfect harmony with each other. While they are by no 

 means devoid of courage, they appear to me to be much less quarrel- 

 some on the whole than the former, and they are far more tolerant 

 toward some of the larger Raptores. For instance, in the vicinity 

 of Camp Harney, Oregon, I found a pair of these birds nesting in the 

 same tree (a medium-sized pine) with Bullock's Oriole and Swainson's 

 Hawk, and, as far as I could see, all were on excellent terms." 



Claude T. Barnes tells me that, in Utah, some of these kingbirds 

 "were living in perfect harmony with Bullock orioles, mourning 

 doves, yellow warblers and domestic sparrows." But sometimes the 

 kingbirds have to fight to protect their nests; M. French Oilman 

 (1915) tells of such a case, where a Bendire's thrasher tried to take 

 possession of the kingbirds' nest: "The Thrasher would bring some 

 nesting material, and settle down in the nest. Then the Kingbirds 

 would appear, scolding and trying to drive her away. As long as 



