122 KINGBIRD. 



the thirteen thousand known species are included in the 

 single order Passeres. The North American members 

 of this order are so alike in more important structural 

 details that they are placed in but two suborders, the 

 suborder Clamatores, containing the so-called Songless 

 Perching Birds, and the suborder Oscines, containing the 

 Song Birds. The Flycatchers are the only members of 

 the suborder Clamatores in Eastern North America. 

 They differ from the Osdnes, or true Song Birds, in 

 always having ten fully developed primaries, in having 

 the tarsus rounded behind as well as in front, and chiefly 

 in the anatomy of the syrinx, or voice-producing organ. 

 In the Oscines this possesses four or five distinct pairs of 

 intrinsic muscles, while in the Clamatores it has less than 

 four pairs of muscles, and is not so highly developed. 



Flycatchers are the Hawks of the insect world. Their 

 position when resting is erect, and they are constantly on 

 the watch for their prey, which is captured on the wing, 

 with a dexterity Hawks may well envy. The bill is 

 broad and flat and the gape large, as in other fly-catching 

 birds. After darting for an insect, as a rule, they return 

 to the same perch, a habit which betrays their family 

 affinities, though it is occasionally practiced by some 

 other birds. 



Among our Eastern Flycatchers the Kingbird un- 

 doubtedly deserves first rank. In books he is sometimes 

 Kingbird, called the Tyrant, but the name is a 



Tyrannus tyrannus. libel. The Kingbird is a fighter, but 



Plate xxx. kg s no f. a bully, and gives battle only 

 in a just cause. His particular enemy is the Crow, and 

 during the nesting season each Kingbird evidently draws 

 an imaginary circle about his home within which no 

 Crow can venture unchallenged. From his lookout on 

 the topmost branch of a neighboring tree the Kingbird 

 darts forth at the trespasser, charging him with a spirit 



