Birds of Pennsylvania. 147 



The nest, a rather bulky and loosely made structure, is composed 

 of grasses, weeds, roots, etc., and is built generally on the limb of an 

 apple or pear tree in an orchard ; sometimes, however, nests are 

 placed in oak and other trees. It is built b}" the joint labor of both 

 birds, who complete this work in about five days. The eggs, usually 

 four or five in number, are creamj^-white spotted conspicuously with 

 difterent shades of brown and indistinct spots of bluish-gray. The 

 eggs vary greatly in size ; a large one measures an inch in length and 

 f of an inch in width. The period of incubation is about fourteen 

 days. From his favorite perch either on a stake, t^ie top of a tree 

 or a high weed in the field, the Kingbird watches for his insect 

 prey ; at other times he is observed flying over a field in a man- 

 ner similar to that of the Sparrow Hawk, watching for grasshoppers, 

 crickets or other insects. As Wilson observes, he sometimes hovers 

 over a river or pond, darting after insects that frequent such places, 

 snatching them from the surface of the water, and diving about in the 

 air like a swallow. Some few years ago I saw a Kingbird dart down 

 to the watf r in a shallow pond and fly off" with a shining object in his 

 bill, that at the time I thought appeared like a small fish, but never 

 having seen or heard of this species feeding on fishes, but little notice 

 was taken of the bird, which flew to a tree some two hundred yards 

 distant. From an article published in the Forest and Stream, Sep- 

 tember 2, .882, and written by Milton P. Peirce, it appears that King- 

 birds sora ;times feed on fishes. Mr. Peirce writes : " These birds are 

 very abuiidant about my premises, nesting in some cases within a few 

 feet of my residence * * * I have often noticed them striking 

 the surface of the water in my fish ponds, but supposed they were 

 either taking a bath or else catching insects which were flying near 

 the surface of the water. When I constructed my bass pond, a few 

 years ago, I stocked it with minnows to aff'ord ample food for the bass. 

 At times the entire surface of the pond seems alive with them. A 

 few days ago I observed at least a half dozen Kingbirds perched on 

 trees and bushes, near the margin of the pond, and almost every 

 moment some of them would dive into the water precisely like a 

 Kingfisher, and I concluded they were catching bugs or other insects, 

 which were floating upon the surface of the water. Watching them 

 closely, I soon saw one of them leave the water with something pre- 

 ceptibly shining in its bill. It alighted on a tree about fifty yards 

 from where I was sitting, and acted precisely as a Kingfisher does 

 when killing a fish. Taking a telescope, I also took an observation 

 and discovered that the Kingbird had a minnow not less than three 

 inches long. I continued my observations for about fifteen minutes, 

 and during that time these birds caught several small minnows and 

 ate them." Notwithstanding the benefits which this bird confers, de- 



