KING-BIRD 483 



in those quarters of the country where he is a regular migrant, 

 he is familiarly known as the " Bee-Martin," a name he has 

 earned from his fondness for the denizens of the bee-hive. It is 

 only occasionally that naturalists refer to him as the Tyrant, 

 while to ornithologists generally he is known as Tyrannus carolinensis, 

 belonging to the group of songless Passeres called Clajviatores. 

 Some recent taxonomists, including the present writer, however, 

 are inclined to regard the group as a superfamily of the Passeres, 

 to be designated the Tyrannoidea} Dr. Coues has said of the 

 Tyrannidx that " Only a small fragment of the family is represented 

 within our limits, giving but a vague idea of the numerous and 

 singularly diversified forms abounding in tropical America. Some 

 of these grade so closely toward other families, that a strict defini- 

 tion of the Tyrannidx becomes extremely difficult ; and I am not 

 prepared to off'er a satisfactory diagnosis of the whole group " 

 {Key N. Amer. Birds, ed. 2, p. 428). With respect to our United 

 States species, however, they are more or less closely affined, and 

 have usually been all restricted to subfamily grouping — the 

 Tyranninse. Of the genus Tyrannus, to which the King-bird belongs, 

 there are some three or four other species or subspecies inhabiting 

 various geogi'aphical areas in the United States, while some range 

 southward into Mexico. Other North- American genera are Milvulus, 

 including the handsome fork-tailed Flycatchers ; Pitangus, the 

 elegant Derby Flycatcher ; Myiarchus, the Crested Flycatchers ; the 

 genera Myiozetetes and Myiodynastes are also represented, as well as 

 Sayornis (Phcebe). The still smaller forms are abundantly present in 

 the genera Contopus, Empidonax, Pyrocephalus and Ornithion.- 



Many of the Tyrannidse have habits in common, while the 

 King-birds have others that are essentially peculiar to the genus. 

 To present an account of the most characteristic of these we 

 may choose the eastern form as an example, and the exti'aordinary 

 behaviour of this bird during the entire breeding season is the 

 most remarkable trait to be noted. From the very day the building 

 of the nest is first started, until the time when the young finally 

 shift for themselves, the male of this species gives constant battle, 

 without discrimination, to every bird that passes within range of his 



^ See Dr. Stejneger in The Standard Natural History and elsewhere ; also 

 Prof. Cope in The American Naturalist (Oct. 1889, p. 873). 



^ For the comparative osteology of several of the genera of the IST. American 

 Tyrannidse see the present writer's " Contributions to the Comparative Osteology 

 •of the Families of North American Passeres " {Journ. Morpholog. iii. pp. 

 81-112). In that memoir some of the striking resemblances in the skulls of 

 certain Laniidm, and Tyrannidse are set forth, which are quite significant ; while 

 for other points in the anatomy of these birds see Macgillivray in Audubon's 

 Orn. Biography, v. pp. 421, 422, and also the classical work of J. Miiller 

 {Ahhandl. K. Akad. Wissensch. Berlin, 1845, pp. 321-495). 



