188 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



neighbors. Whenever a hawk or crow is observed flying-, even at a con- 

 siderable distance, this little warrior immediately starts in pursuit, and 

 by his rapid flight speedily overtakes the object of his wrath and utter- 

 ing- almost continually his sharp and rapid twitter, is seen to mount 

 above his adversary and make repeated and violent assaults on the head 

 of his flying- victim, who, frequently, to escape further persecution, makes 

 a precipitate retreat to a tree, bushes or the ground. The nest, a rather 

 bulky and loosely made structure, is composed of grasses, weeds, roots, 

 etc., and is built generally on the limb of an apple or pear tree in an or- 

 chard ; sometimes, however, nests are placed in oak and other trees. It 

 is built by the joint labor of both birds, who complete this work in about 

 five days. The eggs, usually four or five in number, are creamy -white 

 spotted conspicuously with different shades of brown and indistinct spots 

 of bluish-gray. The eggs vary greatly in size ; a large one measures an 

 inch in length and three-fourths of an inch in width. The period of incuba- 

 tion is about fourteen days. From his favorite perch either on a stake, 

 the top of a tree or a high weed in the field, the Kingbird watches for 

 his insect prey ; at other times he is observed flying over a field in a 

 manner similar to that of the Sparrow Hawk, watching for grasshoppers, 

 crickets or other insects. As Wilson observes, he sometimes hovers over 

 a river or pond, darting after insects that frequent such places, snatch- 

 ing them from the surface of the water, and diving about in the air like 

 a swallow. Some few years ago I saw a Kingbird dart down to the 

 water in a shallow pond and fly off with a shining object in his bill, that 

 at the time I thought appeared like a small fish, but never having seen 

 or heard of this species feeding on fishes, but little notice was taken of 

 the bird, which flew to a tree some two hundred yards distant. From 

 an article published in the Forest and Stream, September 2, 1882, and 

 written by Milton P. Peirce, it appears that Kingbirds sometimes feed 

 on fishes. Mr. Peirce writes : " These birds are very abundant about 

 my premises, nesting in some cases within a few feet of my residence. 

 * * * I have often noticed them striking the surface of the water 

 in my fish ponds, but supposed they were either taking a bath or else 

 catching insects which were flying near the surface of the water. When 

 I constructed my bass pond, a few years age, I stocked it with minnows 

 to afford ample food for the bass. At times the entire surface of the 

 pond seems alive with them. A few days ago I observed at least a half 

 dozen Kingbirds perched on trees and bushes, near the margin of the 

 pond, and almost every moment some of them would dive into the water 

 precisely like a Kingfisher, and I concluded they were catching bugs or 

 other insects, which were floating upon the surface of the water. Watch- 

 ing them closely, I soon saw one of them leave the water with something 

 preceptibly shining in its bill. It alighted on a tree about fifty yards 

 from where I was sitting, and acted precisely as a Kingfisher does when 

 killing a fish. Taking a telescope, I took an observation and discovered 



