322 The Kingbird 



below ; for all at once another idea had taken possession of its mind, and 

 that was to escape this infuriated bundle of feathers with a sharp beak 

 that was snapping at its back. So it departed across the shallow lake as 

 fast as its big wings could carry it, and its pursuer, a little Kingbird, 

 urged it on with every stroke. The hunter had suddenly found itself 

 the hunted one, and, judging by the haste it used and 

 T1 H Hu . tef tne wa y it dodged, one would think it was as badly 

 frightened as the poor sandpiper had been a few min- 

 utes before. For fully a quarter of a mile the Kingbird kept up the 

 chase, ceasing the pursuit only when the hawk had entered the woods. 



The Kingbird was the sentry and also the fighting warrior for all 

 that arm of the lake, and woe to any large bird that came near. Later, 

 I saw him several times, and he was ever on the alert. Once he drove off 

 a great Turkey Vulture, actually alighting on its back where evidently 

 he held on to a feather with his bill. Twice I saw him make life miserable 

 for Crows that ventured into his kingdom. 



I found his nest, too, and this was a discovery worth while. A but- 

 ton-wood bush had grown up from the mud and among the water-plants, 

 perhaps two hundred feet out from the lake-shore. It was a thin, dis- 

 couraged-looking bush, but it served well for a Kingbird's nest. In this, 

 three feet above the water, the rather bulky cradle had been built. At 

 a little distance it appeared to be only a streaming cluster of long, gray 

 moss, which might have been blown, during some 

 The Nest gale, from a bare branch of one of the scattered pine- 

 trees back on the shore. When one came near, how- 

 ever, and looked inside, another sight was presented. There, in a cup- 

 shaped inclosure, lay as pretty a set of eggs as one might wish to see. 

 They were about an inch long, and perhaps three-fourths of an inch wide; 

 and scattered about over the white surface of the shells were many spots 

 of brown in various shades. The nest was lined with little roots and grass, 

 and the whole structure was compact and strong. 



Kingbirds often show a preference for living near streams or lakes, but 

 very often are found far away from such places. This is true, particu- 

 larly, in the Northern States, where we may meet with them in old apple- 

 orchards, along highways, or in the neighborhood of farm-fences, beside 

 which trees have sprung up and been allowed to grow. 



Early one morning, last June, I was out watching for birds just after 



sunrise. A little girl, with sharper eyes than mine, was my companion. 



The air was ringing with the song of a Veery, and a 



Nest-Building pair of Red-eyed Vireos were calling repeatedly from 

 the near-by trees. My fellow-watcher was pointing 

 out a Downy Woodpecker she had discovered, when she caught sight of a 

 Kingbird, the first she had ever seen. It was flying slowly and somewhat 

 laboriously, for in its bill it carried a strip of cloth several inches long. A 

 moment later, the bird settled among the twigs and leaves growing on the 

 horizontal limb of a scraggy, gnarled oak-tree just before us. Here it 



