V ° 1 i9'07 CIV ] Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. 391 



it renewing the attacks at intervals until both are lost to view. The hawk 

 responds to each assault by merely giving sluggish downward flaps when 

 it again soars on motionless wings as before. 



98. Tyrannus verticalis. Arkansas Kingbird. — Abundant summer 

 visitor. Ubiquitous in both counties; nesting in all kinds of trees, at any 

 elevation indifferently. Arrives about the middle of May, young are 

 generally fledged about the middle of July, and by Sept. 20, all the birds 

 have left. Arkansas Kingbirds lay from three to five eggs, and, like the 

 next species, occasionally steal the nests of other birds. One pair drove 

 away two robins and took possession of their nest. On July 8, 1893, I 

 made the unusual discovery of these Kingbirds nesting in a colony on a 

 fork of Whitney Creek, Custer County. The nests were placed in the 

 forks of young cottonwoods, some contained eggs and others young birds 

 nearly ready to fly. The male indulges in a curious display when courting 

 the female. He makes successive darts in the air, fluttering, vibrating 

 his quills, and trilling as he shoots forward. Propelling himself thus for 

 several hundred yards, he looks like a bird gone mad. This species shows 

 equal courage in attacking the Raptores as the last mentioned. On July 

 12, 1904, as my wife and I were driving through cottonwoods on the 

 Yellowstone, a young Sparrow Hawk rose from the ground which was 

 immediately struck down by an Arkansas Kingbird before it could clear 

 the trees. I picked up the dazed hawk and took it home when next day 

 it was sufficiently recovered to fly about half a mile before alighting. 

 This showed that the hawk had not fallen from weakness, but from the force 

 of the onslaught. 



On July 1, 1905, we watched an Arkansas Kingbird attack a female 

 Red-tailed Hawk which was disturbed from her nest in a cottonwood. 

 The Kingbird constantly alighted upon this powerful hawk, once upon her 

 head, and pecked her repeatedly, while the latter made no attempt to 

 retaliate, but merely flew in circles uttering her quavering scream. 



99. Sayornis saya. Say's Phcebe. — Common summer visitor. Ar- 

 rives at any time between April 5 and April 30. This bird, like Cliff 

 Swallows, adopts the two extremes of nesting about buildings and in 

 remote badland solitudes. Unlike the latter it shows small discernment 

 in the choice of a site, the nests are placed on or against logs under low 

 eaves, or on any convenient ledge, where the young must inevitably fall 

 victims to ranch cats. If for any cause compelled to desert the first nest, 

 Say's Phcebe will build a second in another similar situation. Five eggs 

 are laid. A pair of these flycatchers made a peculiar unattached nest on 

 a slanting board at the back of my house in Dawson County, and ingeni- 

 ously built up the lower end to make the inside level. As usual this nest 

 was at such a low elevation as to be at the mercy of any predatory animal. 

 While these birds excel as architects and make substantial nests of grasses 

 and fine roots lined with such material as wool and feathers, they are not 

 above appropriating the nests of other species. In this latter case they 

 can rear a brood safely. In May, 1895, a pair took possession of a Barn 



