194 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



parts, white, the center of chest faintly shaded with 

 pale gray passing into deeper gray on sides of chest, 

 sides, and flanks ; the under tail-coverts, usually tinged 

 with pale yellow ; under wing-coverts, yellowish-white 

 or pale primrose yellow; inner webs of wing-feathers 

 edged with dull yellowish-white; bill, black; iris, brown. 

 Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually in low mangroves 

 or live oaks but sometimes high in trees, near streams ; 



a frail structure of twigs and grass, lined with small 

 plant stems and moss. Egos : 3 or 4, creamy or pink- 

 ish-white, spotted and splashed with dark brown and 

 lilac-gray. 



Distribution. — Breeds from Georgia, southeastern 

 South Carolina, Florida, and Yucatan through the 

 Bahamas and West Indies to northern South America; 

 winters from Jamaica and Haiti southward. 



This Tyrant Flycatcher much resembles the 

 more common Kingbird, but may be distinguished 

 from that species by its lighter color and larger 

 size. It is a common inhabitant in many of the 

 West India Islands and is also found in numbers 

 in Florida. Rarely it breeds as far north as 

 South Carolina. The Gray Kingbird prefers the 

 country iminediately adjoining the coast, and, 

 although it wanders into the jiine woods at times, 

 it is rare to find one more than a mile from 

 salt water. In Old Tampa Bay many of them 

 spend the summer, and one cannot pass along 

 the shore or row a boat for any great distance 

 among the numerous islands without finding one 

 perched on some snag or bush-top. In this terri- 

 tory the nests are built in mangrove bushes and 



tisually over the water. The nest is of rootlets, 

 and occasionally one may be found possessing 

 a meager lining of horsehair. It is so loosely 

 woven that as a rule one may see, through the 

 structure, the form of the eggs within. As an 

 indication of their abundance in a favorite local- 

 ity one writer speaks of finding twelve occupied 

 nests while paddling a canoe along a four-mile 

 stretch of mangrove-fringed shore-line. 



The Gray Kingbirds reach Florida early in 

 April, and after the completion of the breeding 

 season remain but a short time before they again 

 brave the rolling wastes of the Mexican Gulf in 

 their flight to their winter home in the Lesser 

 .Antilles and Central America. 



T. Gir.r.ERT Pe.\rson. 



Courtesy of Nat. Asso. Aud. Soc. 



NEST AND EGGS OF GRAY KINGBIRD 



