The Kingbird. 



203 



water frequently, even during the severe 

 frosts of January, which he endured with- 

 out much difficulty; basking, like Diogenes, 

 in the feeble beams of the sun, which he 

 followed round the room of his confine- 

 ment, well satisfied when no intruder or 

 companion threw him into the shade ! 

 Some very cold evenings he had the saga- 

 city to retire under the shelter of a defend- 

 ing bed quilt; was very much pleased with 

 the warmth and brilliancy of lamplight, 

 and would eat freely at any hour of the 

 night. Unacquainted with the deceptive 

 nature of shadows, he sometimes snatched 

 at them for the substances they resembled. 

 Unlike the Vieros \sic\ he retired to rest 

 without hiding his head in the wing, and 

 was extremely watchful though not abroad 

 till after sunrise. His taciturnity and dis- 

 inclination to friendship and familiarity in 

 confinement, were striking traits. His 

 restless, quick, and sideglancing eye en- 

 abled him to follow the motions of his fly- 

 ing prey, and to ascertain precisely the 

 infallible instant of attack. He readily 

 caught morsels of food in his bill before 

 they reached the ground, when thrown 

 across the room; and, on these occasions, 

 seemed pleased with making the necessary 

 exertion. He had also a practice of cau- 

 tiously stretching out his neck, like a snake, 

 and peeping about, either to obtain sight 

 of his food, to watch any approach of dan- 

 ger, or to examine anything that appeared 

 strange. At length we became so well ac- 

 quainted, that when very hungry, he would 

 express his gratitude on being fed, by a 

 shrill twitter, and a lively look, which was 

 the more remarkable as at nearly all other 

 times he was entirely silent." 



The Kingbird is swift of wing and very 

 expert in the capture of winged insects, 

 which he espies from his perch on a leaf- 

 less branch, or the top of a tall mullein 

 stalk, or a fence post, and pursues with al- 

 most unvarying success. He is rather a 

 noisy bird and rarely leaves or returns to 



his perch without uttering the shrill twitter- 

 ing cry so characteristic of this bird. 



The southward migration of this species 

 takes place much earlier than in most birds 

 and generally all the Kingbirds have disap- 

 peared from New England by the early 

 part of September. When migrating in 

 August the flight of this species is quite 

 different from the ordinary rapid fluttering 

 so noticeable during the summer. It is 

 now long and swinging, and not unlike 

 that of a swallow, very easy and very rapid. 

 The birds at this time travel in loose flocks 

 of twenty-five or thirty, and are for the 

 most part silent. The Kingbird passes the 

 winter in the tropics. 



It has been suggested that the bright 

 orange patch on the Kingbird's crown is 

 useful to the bird by attracting insects 

 toward it. Thus Giraud, speaking of its 

 habit of standing motionless on its perch 

 for minutes at a time, says: "Many sup- 

 pose it adopts this quiet attitude for the 

 purpose of attracting passing insects, they 

 mistaking the bright vermilion patch on its 

 crown for a blossom, and in their eagerness 

 to partake of the supposed nectar, the fatal 

 error is not discovered until within reach 

 of the beguiler's grasp." In a note on the 

 same point, Mr. Chas. W. Brekham says: 

 " Several years ago, in May, I saw one of 

 these birds occupying an exposed perch 

 on a pear tree in bloom, about which many 

 bees were darting. Several times I ob- 

 served that the bird caught the insects 

 without leaving his perch by quickly turn- 

 ing his head and 'grabbing them.' My 

 attention being thoroughly aroused, I no- 

 ticed that many seemed to fly directly 

 toward him; the majority appearing to 'shy 

 off ' a short distance and change their 

 course, but very few that came within 

 reach escaped him. The question natur- 

 ally suggesting itself: Did the thrifty 

 Hymenoptera [bees] mistake the fully dis- 

 played orange red crown (I could see that 

 the crest was erected) for a flower ? Once 



