mo _ ‘THE KINGBIRD. 
insect prey. The birds are rather quarrelsome, especially among themselves. 
A fight between four or five males such as one observer reports, must be a 
spectacular affair—equal to one of those other occasions celebrated in the song 
of their native land, “When dey’s razors a’flyin’ troo de air.” 
No. 136. 
KINGBIRD. 
A. O. U. No. 444. Tyrannus tyrannus (Linn.). 
Description.—Adult: Above ashy black changing to pure black on head, 
and fuscous on wings; crown with a concealed orange-red (cadmium orange) 
patch or “crest,” the orange feathers black-tipped and overlying others broadly 
white at base; wings with whitish and brownish ash edgings; tail black, all the 
feathers broadly white-tipped, and the outermost pair often white-edged; below 
white, washed with grayish on breast; bill and feet black. Jmmatwre birds lack 
the crown-patch, and are more or less. tinged with fulvous or buffy on the parts 
which are light-colored in the adult. Length 8.00-9.00 (203.-228.6) ; av. of four 
Columbus specimens: wing 4.60 (116.8) ; tail 3.31 (84.1); bill from nostril .52 
(13.2). 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink size; blackish ash above; white below; black 
tail conspicuously tipped with white; noisy and quarrelsome. 
Nest, of weed-stalks, plant-fibres and trash, with a felted mat of plant-down 
or wool, and an inner lining of fine grasses, feathers, rootlets, etc. Hggs, 3 or 4 
sometimes 5, white or cream-white, distinctly but sparingly spotted with dark 
umber and occasional chestnut. Av. size, .98 x .73 (24.9 x 18.5). 
General Range.—North America from the British Provinces south; in win- 
ter through eastern Mexico, Central and South America. Less common west of 
the Rocky Mountains. Not recorded from northern Mexico and Arizona. 
Range in Ohio.—Common summer resident throughout the state. 
STERN republicans that we all are, we nevertheless delight in the tales 
of ancient tyranny, 1f only to shudder at them. And surely the fascinating 
complex of modern international politics would lose full half its charm if there 
were not half a dozen autocrats to deal with, to flatter, to cajole, to outwit, 
and secretly to admire. And surely, too, no sane bird-lover would willingly 
dispense with the presence in our midst of the Kingbird, that arch-tyrant of 
the winged world. He is King by divine right, if there be such a thing, for 
he is crowned when he comes of age without any intervention of man. He fairly 
bursts with self-importance at all times, and the conscientious effort of his ma- 
