1913 BIRDS OF THE FRESNO DISTRICT 59 



standing. At that distance he appeared to be wearing a red jewel at his throat 

 as it flashed beautifully at every turn of the bird's head. Within the next five 

 minutes the hummer made half a dozen trips to the lilac bush and back to the 

 tree, and finally came to a big pink rose, almost within arm's reach of where I 

 stood enraptured. Probably if red hummingbirds were as common here as green 

 ones, they would, in time, cease to be objects of wonder and admiration, but even 

 now the sight of a Rufous Hummingbird whizzing northward in the first spring 

 days fills me with an almost irresistible desire to go afield. 



These little birds do not migrate through the valley in large numbers, or if 

 they do they are much less conspicuous than would seem to be the case, judging 

 from the one or two that are generally observed in the spring from the third week 

 in March to April 2 (1906). 



Western Kingbird. Tyrannus verticalis Say. 



To the uninitiated the name "kingbird" as applied to any of our local birds 

 would be almost meaningless ; but mention "bee martin" and every boy knows at 

 once that we refer to that fearless tyrant of the air that once established in any 

 favored place will tolerate no larger bird within a given radius of its chosen 

 grounds. 



Western Kingbirds are generally distributed in summer throughout all that 

 portion of the San Joaquin Valley that T have been fortunate enough to visit, and 

 they range well up into the foothills also. They appear equally at home through- 

 out the cultivated areas and in the sparsely settled districts, and since their food 

 seems to consist mainly of various insects and bugs, and since these, in one form 

 or another, are not difficult to obtain, this valley supports a very large population 

 of kingbirds. 



In some sections this species has fallen into bad repute because of its fond- 

 ness for bees, but I do not think it is fair to assume that bees are especially sougnt 

 for. They seem to be taken in numbers only when they are more in evidence 

 than any other creature. One pair of these birds that I had an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to observe fed their family almost entirely on grasshoppers, one or the 

 other of the parents bringing a big hopper to the nest about every ten minutes. 

 Often in July and August it is no uncommon sight to see two or three dozen 

 kingbirds, together with quite a host of other birds, perched on a wire fence at 

 the edge of an alfalfa field, all busily engaged in catching the yellow butterflies 

 that occur so numerously at times. In such places the birds fare so sumptuously 

 that they soon become excessively fat. The precision with which one of these 

 big flycatchers can swoop out upon and snap up a passing insect is really marvel- 

 ous, and no desirable creature that comes within their vision need hope to escape. 



The date of the appearance of our kingbirds in the spring nearly corresponds 

 with that upon which the Bullock Orioles reach here, as will be seen by the fol- 

 lowing dates of spring arrival: March 26, 1905; March 23, 1906; March 27, 

 1908; March 29, 191 1. With the passing of August these birds have nearly all 

 disappeared and only an occasional one is seen after the last week in that month. 

 In 1905 the last one was seen August 26, and in 191 1 a single individual was ob- 

 served near Clovis, flying toward the south, on September 4. 



Never, in ten years of observation, have I known a pair of Western King- 

 birds to nest in an orchard, as the eastern form is said to do so often ; neither do 



