326 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



feathers, strings, and other soft materials. They are usually secured to the 

 limb on which they are placed by a portion of the string. The diameter of 

 the cavity of the nest is about three inches, depth one and a half Their 

 eggs are laid in May and June, and are four, five, or six in number. They 

 are described as white, marked with dark brown spots on the larger end. 

 In some the spots, decreasing in size, extend to the smaller end. 



Dr. Hoy informs me that he has never detected this bird within the limits 

 of Wisconsin, though he has no doubt that they may occasionally straggle 

 into its limits,- as have many of the birds peculiar to the Missouri region. 



Mr. Eidgway gives it as one of the most abundant and familiar of 

 the Tyrannidoi in the Sacramento Valley and the fertile portions of the 

 Great Basin. He notes their excessively quarrelsome disposition, whicli far 

 exceeds that of the eastern Kingbird, for fighting among themselves seems 

 to be their chief amusement. As many as half a dozen of these birds were 

 sometimes noticed pitching at one another promiscuov^sly, in their playful 

 combats ; and when a nest was disturbed, the cries of the parents invariably 

 brought to the vicinity all the birds of this species in the neighborhood, 

 which, as soon as gathered together, began their aerial battles by attacking 

 each other without regard apparently to individuals, accompanying the fight 

 by a shrill twitter, very different from the loud rattling notes of the T. caroli- 

 nensis. Indeed, all the notes of the western Kingbird are very conspicuously 

 different from those of the eastern species, being weaker, and more twitter- 

 ing in their character. The nesting habits, the construction of the nest, and 

 appearance of the eggs, are, however, almost perfectly identical. 



Mr. Eidgway gives an interesting account (Am. Nat., Aug., 1869) of a 

 young bird of this species which became quite domesticated with his party 

 in the geological survey of the 40th parallel. It had been taken about the 

 middle of July, fully fiedged, from the nest, by some Indians, and was fed 

 with grasshoppers and flies until able to catch them for itself When not 

 in quest of food it remained quietly perched on Mr. Eidg way's shoulder or 

 his hat, or would perch on a rope extending from the top of the tent to a 

 stake. At night it frequently roosted under an umbrella which hung outside 

 of the tent. If permitted, it would have preferred to keep on its master's 

 shoulder, snuggling against his neck. In the morning it was sure to come 

 fluttering about his head, singling him out from a dozen or more persons who 

 lay around upon the ground. It had an insatiable appetite, and was ascer- 

 tained by actual count to consume one hundred and twenty fat grasshoppers 

 in a day. It soon learned its own name. Chippy, and always answered to 

 the call. It followed Mr. Eidgway when on horseback, occasionally leaving 

 to sport with other birds, but always returning to his shoulder or hat. It 

 evidently preferred the society of the camp to that of his own race. It 

 was once, by accident, nearly shot, and ever after held the gun in great dread. 

 It went with Mr. Eidgway from camp to camp, continuing perfectly tame 

 and domesticated, until, as was supposed, it fell a prey to a Hawk. 



