FLYCATCHERS 309 



447. Tyrannus vertkalis Say. Arkansas Kingbird ; West- 

 ern Kingbird. 



Plumage of adults : crown with concealed orange red spot ; head, neck and 

 breast ash gray ; wings dusky ; tail black ; outer webs of outer feathers white ; 

 throat and chest grayish ; lower breast and belly yellow. Immature plumage : 

 orange red crown patch lacking ; yellow of belly paler ; wing coverts bordered 

 with buffy. Wing 5.00 ; bill from nostril 0.51. 



Geog. Dist. — Western United States from the Plains to the Pacific, north 

 to southern British Columbia and southern Assiniboia, south to Lower Cali- 

 fornia ; in winter ranging southward to Mexico and Guatemala ; accidental 

 in Maine, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Iowa. 



County Records. — York ; the only specimen known from Maine is one 

 taken at Eliot, (Purdie, B. N. 0. C. 1, p. 73).* 



In California this is the common Kingbird. Their call 

 sounds more like "je-whew" but is very similiar to that of our 

 eastern species. They are very noisy and in habits and food 

 are similar to our eastern species. They are slightly less soci- 

 able and though being found in the vicinity of ranches and also 

 among the eucalyptus trees fringing the city streets of southern 

 California, their favorite home in that State, according to my 

 experience, was in the sycamores and cotton woods which fringe 

 the banks of the various waterways. 



In late April and early May they build a nest which is very 

 similar to that of the eastern species. A nest taken at San 

 Diego, California, May 2, was situated fifteen feet from the 

 ground in a cottonwood tree along the San Diego River. This 

 nest was composed of rootlets and dry grass, lined with feathers 

 and hair. Its external depth was two and a half inches, the 

 internal depth one and a quarter inches, the external diameter 

 five and the internal diameter three inches. The four eggs 

 measure 0.96 x 0.72, 0.97 x 0.73, 0.96 x 0.73, 0.96 0.72. In 

 color and markings the eggs are indistinguishable from those 

 of the eastern species, being white or creamy white with the 

 usual range of markings from chestnut, umber and cinnamon 

 to lilac and lavender. 



*The record as given in Ridgway's Birds of North and iVIiddle America, Part IV, Page 669, 

 is wrong, the correct locality being Eliot. 



