372 THE WESTERN KINGBIRD. 
by, had it not been for the constant solicitude of a pair of Kingbirds. Investiga- 
tion showed that the ancient pocket had been crammed full of grass and twigs, 
and that it contained two fresh eggs of the Flycatcher. Ordinarily the nest is 
placed in an upright or horizontal fork of a tree at a height of from three to 
forty feet. Twigs, weed-stalks, and trash of any kind enter into the basal con- 
struction. The characteristic feature of the nest, however, is the mould, or 
matrix, composed of vegetable plaster, ground wood, and the like, or else of 
compacted wool and cow-hair, which is forced into the interstices of the outer 
structure and rounded inside, giving shape to the whole. ‘This cup, in turn, is 
lined with fine grasses, cow-hair, or variously. Occasionally, nests are found 
composed almost entirely of wool. In others string is the principal ingredient. 
Altho the Kingbird never sings, it has a characteristic and not unmusical 
cry, tizic, tisic (spell it phthisic, if you favor the old school) or tsee tsee tsee 
isee, in numerous combinations of syllables, which are capable of expressing 
various degrees of excitement and emotion. 
In eastern Washington this Kingbird is common and well distributed, tho 
far less abundant than the larger, grayer “Western.” West of the Cascades it 
is rare but regular, being found chiefly along the wooded margins of lakes. 
No. 143. 
WESTERN KINGBIRD. 
A. O. U. No. 447. Tyrannus verticalis Say. 
Synonyms.—ARKANSAS KiNGBIRD. ARKANSAS FLYCATCHER. 
Description.—4dult Male: Foreparts, well down on breast, and upper back 
ashy gray, lightening, nearly white, on chin and upper throat, darker on lores and 
behind eye; a partially concealed crown-patch of orange-red (Chinese orange) ; 
lateral boundaries of this patch olivaceous; back, scapulars, and rump ashy 
glossed with olive-green; this color shading to black on upper tail-coverts; wings 
fuscous; tail black, the outer web of outermost rectrix white, or faintly tinged 
with yellow; underparts below breast rich canary yellow, paler on wing-linings 
and lower tail-coverts; bill and feet black; iris brown. Adult Female: like male 
but crown-patch usually somewhat restricted, and primaries much less attenuated. 
Young birds are duller and browner without crown-patch, and with little or no 
olivaceous on back; the yellow of underparts is paler (sulphury or even whitish), 
and the primaries are scarcely or not at all attenuated. Length of adult males 
about 9.00 (228.6); wing 5.12 (130); tail 3.68 (93.5); bill .73 (18.7); tarsus 
.74 (18.8). Females average less. 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink to Robin size; noisy, petulant ways; ashy 
foreparts and yellow belly distinctive. 
Nesting.— Nest: of twigs, grasses, string, wool, and other soft substances, 
placed at moderate heights in bushes or trees, or more commonly on beams and 
