238 



USEFUL BIRDS. 



a food supply that the Ijirds placed their nest on the post, 

 as the most accessible nesting place in the midst of plenty. 

 Other similar instances have been recorded. 



The notes of this bird consist of a series of shrill and 

 varied twitters, somewhat resembling those of a Swallow. 

 In spring it often mounts into the air, and, rising high, fre- 

 quently falls for a distance and then recovers itself, twit- 

 tering fiercely all the time, as if engaged with an imaginary 

 antagonist. It appears to be pursuing insects, which it some- 

 times follows to considerable heights, and having a frolic at 

 the same time. In warm weather it will sometimes plunge 

 into the water, and, rising again, shake its plumage like a 

 Fish Hawk. 



The Kingl>ird, although primarily a feeder on flying insects, 

 can adapt itself to the pursuit of other food. In flying about 

 it often takes insects by skimming and fluttering 

 over water, or by picking them from the grass 

 or trees. After the severe rainstorm of June, 

 1903, when the air was swept clear of all flying 

 insects by torrents of rain, Mr. Outram Bangs 

 saw Kingbirds picking up from the ground dead 

 or dying insects. 

 They sometimes alight on plowed lands, and pick up grubs 

 and myriapods ; they will also eat wild berries and seeds. 

 Very large beetles are taken, such as May beetles and 

 Cetonias, as well as some of the beneficial tiger 

 beetles and ground beetles. Weevils of l)oth 

 grain and fruit, click beetles, grasshoppers and 

 crickets, wasps, wild bees, ants, and flies are 

 prominent among the food materials of this 

 bird. Among the flies taken are house flies 

 and several species that trouble cattle ; but 

 smaller insects, like mosquitoes, gnats, and 

 midgets, are not ignored. Leaf hoppers and 

 many other bugs are taken ; and a great variety of cater- 

 pillars, mostly of the hau-less species, are eaten or fed to the 

 young. This l)ird is destructive to moths of many kinds, 

 among them the gipsy moth. In two and one-half hours 

 seven of these birds were seen to take seventy-nine male and 



Fig. 98. — Ce- 



touia, natural 

 size. 



Fig. 99.— May 

 beetle, natural 

 size. 



