222 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



its accommodation. Frequently a pair will take a fancy 

 to the box erected for the purple martins or bluebirds, 

 and will establish a home in the location without looking 

 further, retaining possession in spite of the remonstrances 

 of other claimants. Eobert Eidgway says : '-At Mt. Car- 

 mel several pairs nested every summer inside the town 

 limits, and one pair raised a brood in a nest which was 

 built in a window corner of the county jail, a brick build- 

 ing in the very center of the town."* 



Like their better known cousins, the kingbirds, the 

 crested flycatchers have domineering airs and strong 

 pugilistic tendencies, though they discover these traits 

 less toward the larger than the smaller birds of their 

 neighborhood, and less toward others than their own felr 

 lows. Yet they are quarrelsome enough among them- 

 selves, especially in the mating period. Always in their 

 companionship they display an irritable disposition, and 

 their angry contentions are characteristic of woodland 

 life. Colonel Goss says of them: "They fight fiercely for 

 a mate, and they have a habit that I have not noticed in 

 other birds, of plucking, if possible, the tail feathers of a 

 rival, in order to disfigure him so that he will not be 

 looked upon with favor by the opposite sex; and when 

 lucky enough to pull a feather, it is amusing to see them 

 fuss over it, picking, pulling, in fact fighting it, forgetting 

 for a time the owner, in their exultation over the capture." 

 When angered, they erect their crests so that they are 

 prominently shown, and they display all the reckless 

 bravery of the kingbirds, though they are not so tenacious 

 in following up their attacks. Nor do they swoop down 

 upon their enemy from above, as the kingbirds do, but 

 they make a direct attack, scolding loudly in their quer- 

 ulous manner. 



True to the habits of its family, the crested flycatcher 

 takes most of its food, which in the early part of the 

 season consists chiefly of insects, while on the wing. Its 

 flight is stronger and more rapid than that of the kingbird; 

 and since it usually perches higher than that species, it 

 dashes downward or outward to capture its prey. Keep- 

 ing rather high in the trees, with quick turns and dashes 



"■•• Natural Histf)ry Survey of Illinois, Yol. 1. 



