Sh A Re 
DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED 323 
an altitude of twelve thousand feet, yet he is by no 
means rare along the lowlands. Pine, oak, cottonwood, 
walnut, hickberry, and sycamore trees are his chosen 
nesting sites, and on the horizontal limbs of these the 
bulky cradle is constructed. Twigs, rootlets, weed stalks, 
string, rags, and plant fibre form its walls, grotesquely 
decorated with feathers, like those of the Arkansas king- 
bird. These last, waving rakishly in the wind, are quite 
in keeping with the character of the bird. From two 
to five eggs are laid, and incubation lasts fourteen days, 
the female alone brooding on the nest, although the 
male is always near to defend. The courage of Cassin 
Kingbirds cannot be doubted; and though they are far 
less quarrelsome than the Arkansas, they are not a whit 
less brave in defence. In some instances their pluckiness 
exceeds that of their relatives, for while the latter are 
content to live at peace with hawks and crows, Cassin 
Kingbirds drive both these from their neighborhood by 
an onslaught both fierce and speedy. For this they 
have good cause, for crows are thieves and cannibals, 
feasting on the eggs and young of smaller birds. 
The young Kingbirds, although born naked, soon 
develop feathers. They stay in the nest about two 
weeks, and are taught to fly and hunt in the same 
manner as are the little Arkansas nestlings, and as also 
are the young of the Eastern kingbird, called the tyrant. 
Of the many broods of the latter that I have watched, 
the process has ever been the same. Nor do they differ 
greatly in any of their habits. The Cassin, sitting on a 
fence or a weed stalk, flying out after a passing insect, 
