TYRANT FLYCATCHER. 271 



Kill not thy friend, who thy whole harvest shields, 

 And sweeps ten thousand vermin from thy fields; 

 Think how this dauntless bird, thy poultry's guard, 

 Drove ev'ry Hawk and Eagle from thy yard; 

 Watch'd round thy cattle as they fed, and slew 

 The hungry black'ning swarms that round them flew; 

 Some small return, some little right resign, 

 And spare his life whose services are thine ! 



1 plead in vain ! Amid the bursting roar 



The poor, lost KING-BIRD, welters in his gore. 



This species is eight inches long, and fourteen in extent; the 

 general colour above is a dark slaty ash; the head and tail are 

 nearly black; the latter even at the end, and tipt with white; 

 the wings are more of a brownish cast; the quills and wing co- 

 verts are also edged with dull white; the upper part of the breast 

 is tinged with ash; the throat, and all the rest of the lower parts 

 are pure white; the plumage on the crown, though not forming 

 a crest, is frequently erected, as represented in the plate, and 

 discovers a rich bed of brilliant orange, or flame colour, called 

 by the country people his crown; when the feathers lie close 

 this is altogether concealed. The bill is very broad at the base, 

 overhanging at the point, and notched, of a glossy black colour, 

 and furnished with bristles at the base; the legs and feet are 

 black, seamed with gray; the eye hazel. The female differs in 

 being more brownish on the upper parts, has a smaller streak 

 of paler orange on the crown; and a narrower border of duller 

 white on the tail. The young birds do not receive the orange 

 on the head during their residence here the first season. 



This bird is very generally known, from the lakes to Florida. 

 Besides insects, they feed, like every other species of their tribe 

 with which I am acquainted, on various sorts of berries, par- 

 ticularly blackberries, of which they are extremely fond. Early 

 in September they leave Pennsylvania on their way to the 

 south. 



A few days ago, I shot one of these birds, the whole plumage 

 of which was nearly white, or a little inclining to a cream co- 

 lour; it was a bird of the present year, and could not be more 



