THE WESTERN KINGBIRD. 



375 



and dissected over a hundred specimens of Western Kingbirds and Phcebes, 

 using a microscope in tlie examination of stomach contents. The birds liad 

 been shot about the apiaries, vvliere they had been seen darting upon and 

 catching bees. Ahho many of the birds were gorged, no working bees were 

 found, only drones. This is an imi)ortant 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 di.s- 

 covered until we see his nest. It is our strings which have won his heart. 

 Whatever else the nest ma_\- or ma\- not contain, it is sure to have string, — 

 string in strands, string in coils, siring in bunches, hanks, and tangles, drug 

 store string of a dissipated crimsnn hue, white string that came around the 

 sugar, greasy string that you had lied 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 cotlonwood down, placing it against 

 the trunk, or saddling it upon a horizontal fork of willow, poplar, coltonwood, 

 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 \\xw-v ii~rlf If no 

 such conveni- 

 ences offer, a 

 shade tree is 

 second choice, 

 and the nest 

 includes a 1 1 

 the soft waste 

 w b i c h the 

 farm affords, 

 bits of cloth. 



wool, CONV - 



hair, feathers. 

 and string. 



Eggs to the 

 number of 4 

 or 5 are depos- 

 ited from the 

 1st to the 



15th of June. A DIVIDEU HOUSE. 



Tnki-n at Stratford. 



Photo by the Autic 



