FLYCATCHERS 



195 



ARKANSAS KINGBIRD 

 Tyrannus verticalis Sav 



A. O. U. Number 447 



Other Names. — lice Martin ; Bee Bird. 



General Description. — Length, g inches. Upper 

 parts, gray ; mider parts, gray and yellow. 



Color. — Crown and liinJiii-ck, plain i/ray, the crown 

 with a large concealed patch of orange-red underlaid 

 behind and laterally by an admi.xture o! white and 

 yellow ; back, shoulders, and upper rump, light yellow- 

 ish-olive, the lower rump grayer, with leathers darker 

 centrally ; upper tail-coverts, black, sometimes with 

 indistinct grayish margins ; tail, black, the outer web 

 and shaft of outermost feather wholly white or yellow- 

 ish-white, except (sometimes) part of terminal portion; 

 wings, deep to dark grayish-brown, all the feathers 

 narrowly margined witli paler; ends of long quills with 

 sharp points: lores, mixed gray and dusky, sides of 

 head (except lower portion), gray, darker than color 

 of crown; lower front portion of sides of head, region 

 below the eyes, the cheeks, chin, and upper throat, 

 white or grayish white, passing gradually into pale 

 gray on lower throat and chest; rest of under parts, 

 canary yellow, paler on under tail-coverts, shading into 

 light yellowish-olive on sides, flanks, and upi)er breast; 



under wing-coverts, pale yellowish-gray margined with 

 pale yellow ; inner webs of wing-feathers edged with 

 very pale grayish-yellow or dull yellowish-white ; bill, 

 black or brownish-black; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In trees, bushes from 5 to 

 50 feet up, but usually low and in fence posts, corners 

 of houses or nearly any handy spot; built of twigs, 

 leaves, weed bark, wool, cocoons, hair, string, down, 

 rags, and paper. Eccis : Commonly 4. creamy white 

 rather boldy marked with burnt umber and some lav- 

 ender, chiefly around large end. 



Distribution. — • Western North -America ; north to 

 North Dakota. Montana, northern Idaho, and south- 

 ern British Columbia (Vancouver Island), occasion- 

 ally to Manitoba, southern Assiniboia, and Alberta 

 ( ?) ; east regularly to western Minnesota, eastern .South 

 Dakota and Nebraska, middle Kansas, Oklahoma, and 

 western Texas ; breeding southward to northern Lower 

 California, southern .Arizona, and northern Chihuahua; 

 southward during migration through western Mexico; 

 accidental in Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Maine, New 

 York. New Jersey, and Maryland, 



The .Arkansa.s Kingbird is one of the com- 

 manding personalities of the western bird-world. 

 Of his presence and his very firm convictions 

 concerning his importance and the deference due 

 to his points of view, yoti are made well aware 

 immediately you enter his domain, for he always 

 keeps himself very much in evidence. That he 

 is actually quarrelsome is denied by his admirers, 

 who contend that much of his assertiveness is 

 essentially good-natured, and that he doesn't 

 mean really to be ugly except to his natural 



enemies. Hawks, Crows, Owls, and such like. 

 All and sundry of these he attacks with the most 

 savage fury and persistence, often — like his east- 

 ern cousin of the same narrie and like the pictur- 

 esque Scissor-tailed Flycatcher — actually light- 

 ing on their backs as they fly, and doing them 

 all the injury he can with his beak and claws. 

 He has many tiflfs with other birds, though prob- 

 ably some of these are less serious than they 

 appear. 



Whatever he undertakes to do he seems to 



4 



Vol. II — 14 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



ARKANSAS KINGBIRD (! nat. size) 



Whatever he undertakes to do, he seems to think it important to 

 yell more or less about it 



