316 THE KINGBIRD. 



looking bigger than it really is, because of its erected feath- 

 ers, his whole mood sullen and querulous, his sharp screeping 

 note coughed out and accompanied by a jerk of the tail, he 

 does not possess one single trait of amiability; but, like some 

 ill-natured braggart, seems always on the watch for a chance 

 to fight. Whether the passer-by be a Buzzard a Crow, or 

 the tiniest Sparrow, at once he intercepts his track and in- 

 sults him in the most wanton manner. Slow and tremulous 

 as his flight seems to be, he keeps tolerably close chase with 

 almost anything. Whether those saucy thrusts, as he lets 

 himself down on the back of that soaring Red-tailed Hawk, 

 are painful or not, they are certainly very annoying, as the 

 vexed evolutions of the dignified bird clearly show. Again 

 and again the little sauce-box dashes himself against him, 

 while the Buzzard tips and veers, threatening his insignifi- 

 cant tormentor with beak and claw, and making off with as 

 little show of disconcertion as possible. He scarcely rids 

 himself of the nuisance, however, even at a great height in 

 the air. All the smaller birds in the neighborhood bear 

 with his attacks as a matter of course, and get out of his way 

 with all speed. Arriving the first week in May, the orchard 

 is his favorite resort. Here his note, sometimes uttered 

 singly, often twice in succession, is one of the most familiar 

 and constant sounds. Perched on some branch or part of 

 the fence, after the manner of the Flycatchers in general, 

 he waits for his insect prey, which he snaps up on the wing 

 with a sharp click of the bill as he cuts short circles in the 

 air, sometimes hovering beautifully to reconnoiter, or take 

 his pick from a flock of gnats. Occasionally he may snap 

 up a bee from the hive, but for this small trespass his exten- 

 sive destruction of noxious insects abundantly compensates. 

 The Kingbird's nest is on some horizontal limb of a tree 

 in the orchard or open field, not very far from the ground. 



