Order PASSERES. 
Family TYRANNID_2. 
TYRANNUS TYRANNUS (L.). (444.) 
KINGBIRD. 
Kverywhere one may go in this State he is sure of seeing the 
kinghird, as he is abundantly represented in all sections from 
about the first of May until the tenth of September. <A few 
occasionally linger a little later. The males arrive in spring 
some ten days before the females, in parties of five or six, The 
females come more numerously but more slyly. No time is to 
be lost after they arrive in this latitude, so that unions for the 
summer are hastily made, and the selection of a place where 
to build the nest at once commenced upon. This decided, 
which takes considerable time occasionally, the nest is soon 
made, both working at it constantly until completed. It is var- 
iously placed upon the wild plum trees, the corner of the log 
stable, inan alder, on a stump. It consists of twigs, roots, 
coarse grasses, mosses and weeds, and is lined with fine roots, 
grasses and horse hair. About the 28th of May the eggs are 
laid, and when the young birds open their five little mouths 
the parents have lively work to keep them supplied until able 
to secure food for themselves. The ground color of the eggs 
is a delicate creamy white, with irregular spots of various 
shades of brown and lavender. 
The kingbird is a typical fly-catcher, seizing his food when 
on the wing, which of course consists mostly of insects in 
flight. 
It has been remarked of this species, as of all the true fly- 
catchers, that it seems to have been their special mission to 
sieze only those insects which are in passage from one tree or 
shrub to another, while the task of taking those which are con- 
cealed in hidden places like the bark and foliage, is assigned 
