12 Bird Portratts 
is angry or excited, these red feathers blaze out. They are very 
rarely seen by men, but I imagine the Crows see them oftener 
than they like. 
Apple trees in old orchards are favorite nesting places of the 
Kingbird, and no pains are taken to conceal the nest. It is com- 
posed of twigs loosely laid together, and often festooned with white 
strings or the dry, woolly heads of the mouse-ear everlasting. The 
inside of the nest is neatly lined with feathers, horsehair, or roots, 
and contains from three to five white eggs spotted with brown. The 
Kingbird is here from the first of May to the first of September, 
but like all strictly insectivorous birds, it must spend the winter 
far to the southward. The bird’s only notes are the shrill cries, 
kipper, kipper, given singly or quickly repeated. In spring the birds 
often mount to a considerable height, uttering this cry continually, 
and apparently attempting, by this exhibition, to express the emotion 
common to all creatures at this period of the year. 
The Kingbird is a very satisfactory bird to beginners; the color 
pattern is so marked and the bird is so fond of exposed situations 
that it is seen and recognized without difficulty. Except the Cedar- 
bird, whose tail is tipped with yellow, I know no other small bird of 
the eastern United States whose tail feathers are all tipped with a 
regular edge of light color. The Kingbird is the bird most commonly 
seen from a car window; in almost every field, the mullein stalks or 
wire fences will display one or more individuals, their white breasts 
or black and white tails showing conspicuously in the landscape. 
The Kingbird has often been accused of destroying honeybees. 
Even allowing that individuals occasionally do some damage in this 
way, the good services of the race in destroying harmful insects far 
outweigh these injuries, and the remedy is to drive the bird away 
from the hives, not to kill it. 
