324 The Kingbird 



fence, it will remain motionless, except for frequently turning its head as 

 it searches the air for passing insects. Suddenly it will dash out, some- 

 times a hundred feet or more, seize an insect, and then return to its perch. 

 It is always well for us to know what our bird-friends eat. Kingbirds 

 eat flies of many kinds. They also eat mosquitos, and, in fact, there is 

 hardly an insect so unfortunate as to come within their 



rea h that iS n0t destr y ed ' for the shar P e >' e of the 

 Kingbird is ever on the watch, and its strong bill seems 



never to tire of its work. I once knew a man who paid his boy two cents 

 for every Kingbird he shot. This man raised bees, and he was perfectly 

 sure that he often saw Kingbirds which he, like many others, called Bee 

 Martins catch bees, as they came across the garden to or from the bee- 

 hives. So the boy shot the four Kingbirds that lived near his father's 

 place, and then went around the neighborhood hunting for more King- 

 birds, killing some as far as four miles from his home. One day, however, 

 a naturalist connected with the United States Department of Agriculture 

 in Washington made a careful study of the feeding-habits of the King- 

 bird. He found that, in truth, it did eat bees, but that it appeared to eat 

 only the drones ! 



We all know, of course, that there are two kinds of bees in a hive : 

 one, the workers that gather the honey and take care of the young, and 

 the other the drones who will not gather honey, will not hunt for pollen, 

 and do not, in fact, assume any of the duties around the hive. Perhaps 

 the reason it does not disturb the workers is that they have a sharp sting, 

 while the drones have none. 



All day and all night during the warm months of the year, many thou- 

 sands of insects of various kinds are flying about 

 Sharp Eyes through the air. We do not notice them, but the King- 

 bird has a much sharper eye than man, and it has been 

 proved that it can see a hundred feet away an insect that we would have 

 difficulty in seeing at a distance of fifteen or twenty feet. After a heavy 

 rain-storm, very few insects are in the air, the wind and rain having 

 killed many of them. So the hungry Kingbird, from its post, looks 

 around in vain for something to eat. At such times, you will find it on 

 the ground searching for flies and small beetles that have fallen before the 

 force of the wind and rain. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Kingbird belongs to the Order Passer es and Family Tyrannida (Tyrant 

 Flycatchers) ; its scientific name is Tyrannus tyrannus. The species is found in 

 summer and breeds throughout the whole United States and southern Canada, and 

 winters in Central America and southward to northern Brazil. 



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