THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 91 



The nest is built about the first of May on the extreme 

 end of a branch, in thin woods or orchards, some twenty 

 feet from the ground. It is a bulky contrivance, made 

 of weed stalks and grasses and lined within with plant 

 down. The eggs are from three to five in number, white, 

 spotted with amber, almost round, and one by three- 

 fourths of an inch in size. 



The birds spread themselves from the south over the 

 eastern United States, arriving here about the first of 

 May and leaving about the first of September. Large 

 flocks are frequently seen in southern New Jersey in 

 August. 



Their cry is a shrill twitter, somewhat resembling k-y- 

 rie, several times repeated. 



For a long time the food of this bird was a matter of 

 dispute and it was supposed that it fed to a great extent 

 on bees. Government examination of 218 stomachs 

 showed that ninety per cent, contained insects and in 

 only fourteen were there found any traces of bees and in 

 the majority of these cases the traces were those of 

 drones. Among the insects were found large numbers of 

 the robber fly, an insect which frequently kills a hundred 

 bees in one day. There were also found large numbers 

 of gad-flies, well known as the pests of cattle, and a large 

 proportion of grasshoppers. Of the fruit eaten by the 

 Kingbird only three or four kinds are cultivated, the bird 

 feeding, as far as vegetable diet is concerned, principally 

 on wild cherries, elderberries, mulberries, wild grapes, 

 sassafras, buckthorn and other wild fruit. 



Kingfisher. Length, twelve and a half inches; ex- 

 tent, twenty inches; general color above, blue slate; 

 feathers of the head long and pointed, forming a conspic- 

 uous crest, bluish slate, centered with black; the inner 

 tail feathers have an irregular black stripe down the 

 middle, the rest are black, with slaty blue edges, all are 

 more or less spotted with white; long wing feathers, 



