The Birds’ Calendar 

to have become chronic, degenerating into mere 
pugnacity, which is the impulse to contention 
without the motive. With the irresistible ve- 
hemence of a hornet it will dash upon any of its 
fellows, big or little, putting crows, hawks, and 
eagles to rout by its sheer audacity. The dis- 
eased valor of this bird reminds one of pugna- 
cious philanthropists, in whom the continual op- 
position they have encountered has developed a 
spirit of warfare that prompts them to champion 
any good cause in which they may be sure of 
hard fighting. 
This is one of the commonest birds in bushy 
pastures and along the roadsides, a veritable 
highwayman, conspicuous on telegraph wires 
running across country, always perching in a 
prominent spot where it can see the luckless in- 
sects flying about, at which it makes a dash, 
bringing its prey back to its post of observation. 
The jingle of metallic sounds they utter on the 
wing is far from unmusical, though a bit satiri- 
cal; but is not in any sense asong. Like the 
other flycatchers they are not gregarious, being 
seen only in pairs or singly, and are easily re- 
cognized by the white band on the tip of the 
tail, while the upper side is almost black, the 
under side a dull white, and in its plumage and 
232 
