AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 151 



Couch Kingbird is common in Mexico and Central America, but is only 

 found in the United States in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Southern 

 Texas. Its habits do not differ from those of the next species but its eggs 

 are rather more pyriform in shape and usually have a ground color of a 

 richer buff shade. 



ARKANSAS KINGBIRDS, (Tyrannus verticalis), or Western King- 

 birds as they are as often and more appropriately called, are abundant from 

 Kansas and Southern Minnesota west to the Pacific coast and north to Brit- 

 ish Columbia. Like the eastern bird it frequents open country, being most 

 abundant along river beds and shunning the mountain ranges to a great ex- 

 tent. They are said to be even more noisy than the Eastern Kingbird, and 

 their notes are more varied, though the ones commonly used resemble those 

 of the latter. They are also said to be less pugnacious towards hawks than 

 is the eastern bird and instances are at hand of their living in harmony with 

 them. Like the common Kingbird, they are very playful and are often seen 

 chasing one another, especially in the spring when they are mating.: From 



Egg of Cassin Kingbird. 



their practice at catching insects they have become very skilful and can 

 double and turn with marvelous rapidity. As is usually the case with all 

 kinds of flycatchers when they dash after their prey you can hear their man- 

 dibles snap together as they catch it, which they rarely fail to do. Their 

 nests are ordinarily built in the forks of trees ranging in height from five 

 to fifty feet from the ground, but they may also be found in almost any 

 other location, from a fence post to the eave trough of a dwelling, or on the 

 running gear of a wagon, or the arms of a windmill. 



The nests are substantially built of weeds, grasses, hair, roots, fibres and 

 usually a lot of trash such as string, rags, paper, and lined with finer ma- 

 terials, being thus very similar to the nests of the Eastern Kingbird. The 

 three to five eggs are so near like those of the common Kingbird that they 

 cannot be distinguished, but the average of a large number will be a trifle 

 smaller. They are laid about the middle of May in the greater part of their 

 range. 



CASSIN KINGBIRD, (Tyrannus vociferans). The distribution of this 

 species is more westerly than that of the Arkansas Kingbird. It is found 

 chiefly west of the Rockies and is most abundant along the coast districts 

 where it usually outnumbers the last species. Its habits are not in any way 



