TYRANTS. 



what resembling the neat of our well-known Barn 

 Swallow. If placed on a flat beam, or rafter, or on top 

 of a po.-it, it IS circular, and snmetimes but little or no 

 mud 16 used in its construction." 



" Incubation lasts about twelve days, and the female 

 performs tile greater part of this duty, while the male 

 remains in the vicinity of the nest on the wat<;h for 

 possible intruders. The femiile is a close sitter, and is 

 loth to leave the ne.«t." "The young are large enough 

 to leave the nest in about two weeks, and a second 

 brood is usually reared throughout the greater part of 

 their range. 



" The nestlings are fed entirely o.n insect food, and 

 consume an enormous quantity <!aily."' 



" The number of eggs to a eet varies from three to 

 eight ; sets of five are most commonlv found, while 

 the extremes are verv rare ; an egg is <leposited daily. 

 . . . . The Phcebe's egg is usually pure white in 

 colour; the shell is close-grained, smooth, and mode- 

 rately glossv, which gradually disappears m time, leav- 

 ing the she'll a dull chalky white. Occasionally some 

 of these eggs are more or less perceptibly spotted, with 

 a few specks of reddish-brown about the larger end, but 

 tisually iinly one or two in a clutch are so marked, while 

 the majority of sets are immaculate. The eggs are 

 mostly ovate in shape." 



The Ix)ndon Zoological Society received two examples 

 of this Tyrant (which, by the way, are entered in their 

 list as '" Mufcicapa }>/icehc Phcebe Flycatcher.'') as 

 part of an exchange, in 1907. 



Russ observes : — " For our hobby the House-Tvrant is 

 of Jiardly any value, as one sees it extremely rarely in a 

 Zoological fiarden." 



Americ.in Kingbird {Ti/rannns j^'I''''^)- 

 Above dark slate-colour ; wings blackish, primary 

 coverts and primaries narrowly edged with grey ; middle 

 and greater coverts and secondaries edged with white ; 

 feathers of lower rump more or less edged with greyish- 

 white ; ujjjier tail-coverts black, more or less broadly 

 edged with white ; tail black with defined white tip, the 

 outer feathers partl.v edgetl with the same ; head black ; 

 a large concealed patch of erectile bright orange or 

 orange-red feathers on the crown ; malar region and 

 under surface white, the breast slightly washed with 

 ashy, becoming a defined grey patch at the sides ; axil- 

 laries ash,v with white terminal e<lges ; under wing- 

 coverts pale sordid grey tipped white or whitish ; bill 

 and feet black ; iridets brown. Female with smaller 

 orange patch on crown and longer primaries with less 

 attenuated tips. Hab., Eastern North America .south- 

 wards. 



Major Bendire (" Life Histories," Vol. II., pp. 236-240) 

 gives the u.<u;tl exhaustive account of the wild life, from 

 which I quote as follows : "Bold and fearless in charac- 

 ter, yet tame and conhding in man, often preferring to 

 live in close proximity to dwellings, in gardens and 

 orchards, they are prime favouiites with the majority 

 of our farming population, and they well deserve their 

 fullest proteLtion. Few birds are more useful to the 

 farmer : their reput.ttion for pugnacity and reckless 

 courage is so well established that it is .almost needless 

 to dwell on it. as it is well-knowTi that they will boldly 

 attack and <lrive off the largest of our Raptores, .^ihould 

 one venture too near to their chosen nesting sites. 

 Where a pair or more of these birds make their home in 

 the vicinitv of a farmhouse, the poultry-yard is not 

 likfily to suffer much, through feathered marauders at 

 least ; they are a perfect terror to all hawks, instantly 

 darting at and rising above them, alighting on their 

 shoulders or necks, and picking away at them most 



unmercifully until they are ordy too willing to beat a 

 hasty retreat. The male is seemingly always on the 

 look-out from his perch on the tx>p branches of a tree 

 or poist for such enemies, and no matter how large they 

 may be, a pair of Kingbirds is more than a match for 

 any of them, our larger Falcons and Eagles not ex- 

 cepted. Crows and Blue Jays seem to be especiaJly 

 obnoxious to them, and instances are on record where 

 they have done them material injury. 



" From the foregoing it must not be assumed that our 

 Kingbirds are generally quarrelsome, and that they bully 

 all other birds, as this is by no means the case. As a, 

 rule they live in perfect harmony witb all their sniaUer 

 relatives, and some of the latter's nests are not^ infre- 

 quently placed within a few feet of one of theirs, in 

 the same tree, like that of the Orchard Orioles, for in- 

 stance ; and they are not content with protecting their 

 own young and eggs, but watch over those of their 

 neighbours as well. The only species I have observed 

 as being on bad terms with the Kingbird is our little 



^"it^- 



AMtKicAN Kingbird. 



Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which is well known to- 

 be, "if possible, even more aggressive and pugnacious- 

 than the former, and it woidd seem as if. small though 

 he may be, he is a match for the average Kingbird, and 

 probably always the aggressor. I have on two occa- 

 sions .<ie"en a Ruby-throated Hummingbird put the other 

 to flight. 



" They arrive in our Southern States from their winter 

 homes about the first two weeks in April, and move 

 gradually northward, generally making their appear- 

 ance in "the more northern States aliout the middle of 

 May. The return migration from the far north com- 

 mences in the beginning of August, and from our 

 Northern States usually in the latter part of this 

 month." 



" The Kingbirds are rather noisy on their first arrival 

 in the spring, and give free vent to their exuberance of 

 spirits ; tliey are very restless at this time, now hover- 

 ing or fluttering slowly from one tree to another, or 

 from fence po.st to fence post, the male following his 

 mate with a peculiar, quivering movement of the wings 

 and expanded tail, uttering at" the same time a succes^- 

 sion of shrill, twittering notes like ' pthsee pthsee,' 

 varied now and then with other calls which are rather 

 difficult to express in print ; one of these sounds like 

 ' twiivip-ip-ip.' Occasionally their flight is apparently 

 accomplished without perceptible movements of the. 



