THE WESTERN KINGBIRD. 375 
and dissected over a hundred specimens of Western Kingbirds and Phcebes, 
using a microscope in the examination of stomach contents. The birds had 
been shot about the apiaries, where they had been seen darting upon and 
catching bees. Altho many of the birds were gorged, no working bees were 
found, only drones. This is an important distinction to bear in mind, for the 
reduction of drones is unqualifiedly beneficial. And when one stops to think 
of it, it is absurd to suppose that a bird could swallow bees, stings and all, 
with impunity. 
But the real secret of Kingbird’s attachment for mankind is not dis- 
covered until we see his nest. It is our strings which have won his heart. 
Whatever else the nest may or may not contain, it is sure to have string,— 
string in strands, string in coils, string in bunches, hanks, and tangles, drug 
store string of a dissipated crimson hue, white string that came around the 
sugar, greasy string that you had tied around your finger to remind you to 
feed the chickens, string of every length and size and use and hue. 
Those Western Kingbirds which have not yet adopted men manage to 
subsist somewhat after the fashion of their eastern cousins, and build a nest of 
twigs, grass, weed-stalks, bark strips, and cottonwood down, placing it against 
the trunk, or saddling it upon a horizontal fork of willow, poplar, cottonwood, 
or pine, usually near water. One we found in Douglas County built in a small 
willow which emerged from a shallow lake, a hundred feet from shore. 
But, more commonly, nests are placed about crannies and projections of 
farm buildings, fences, unused wagon-ricks, or upon the house itself. If no 
such conveni- 
ences offer, a 
shade tree is 
second choice, 
and the nest 
includes al] 
the soft waste 
which the 
farm affords, 
bits of cloth, 
wool, cow- 
hair, feathers, 
and string. 
Eggs to the 
number of 4 
or 5 are depos- 
ited from the Ss es 
Ist to the Taken at Stratford. Photo by the Author. 
15th of June. A DIVIDED HOUSE. 
