can 
180 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
spots of lavender. Dimensions of a nest complement of 
five eggs: 1.06 by .71 inch; 1.04 by .70 inch; 1.02 by .72 
inch; 1 by .74 inch; and .94 by .75 inch. 
During the mating and breeding season, the pugnacity 
and courage of the King-bird are proverbial: if any bird 
approach the neighborhood of his nest, he immediately 
attacks it; and, whether crow (his particular dislike), 
hawk, or eagle, the intruder is obliged to flee, so fierce an 
onslaught does this little warrior make on him. As soon 
as the cry of a crow is heard, he is all activity: he flies 
irom the tree where he is perching to reconnoitre, uttering 
his shrill twitter, and vibrating his wings in short, quick, 
nervous strokes; as soon as the crow appears, the King- 
bird pursues it, his flight now being very swift and powerful. 
As soon as he nears his foe, he flies above him, and, dart- 
ing down on his back and head, attacks him with such 
vigor that the crow dives and dodges to avoid him. He 
repeats his attack, and follows his enemy, sometimes to the 
distance of a mile and more: then, returning to his mate, 
he perches on the tree by her nest, and twitters a volley of 
courageous songs. 
The food of the King-bird consists principally of insects, 
which he captures usually while on the wing. It seems a 
provision of nature, that all the Flycatchers shall only take 
those insects that have taken flight from the foliage of trees 
and shrubs, at the same time making the warblers and 
other birds capture those which remain concealed in such 
places. The King-bird, in seizing a flying insect, flies in a 
sort of halfflitting hover, and seizes it with a sharp snap 
of the bill. Sometimes he descends from his perch, and 
captures a grasshopper that has just taken a short flight, 
and occasionally seizes one that is crawling up some tall 
stalk of grass. Those farmers who keep bees dislike 
this bird because of his bad habit of eating as many 
of those insects as show themselves in the neighborhood 
of his nest; but they should remember that the general 
