KINGBIRD (Tyrannus tyrannus). 



Length, about SJ inches. The white lower 

 surface and wliite-tipped tail distinguish this 

 flycatcher. 



Range: Breeds throughout the United States 

 (except the southwestern part) and southern 

 Canada; winters from Mexico to South America. 



Habits and economic status: Tlie kingbird 

 is a pronounced enemy of hawks and crows, 

 which it vigorously attacks at every opportu- 

 nity, thereby affording efficient protection to 

 near-by poultry yards and young chickens at 

 large. It loves the open country and is espe- 

 cially fond of orchards and trees about farm 

 buildings. No less than 85 per cent of its food 

 consists of insects, mostly of a harmful nature. 

 It eats the common rose chafer or rose bug, and 

 more remarkable still it devours blister beetles 

 freely. Tlie bird lias been accused of eating 

 honeybees to an injurious extent, but tliere ia 

 little ground for the accusation, as appears from 

 the fact that examination of G34 stomachs 

 showed only 61 bees in 22 stomachs. Of these 

 51 were useless drones. On the other liand, it 



devours robber flies, which catch and destroy honeybees. Grasshoppers and 

 crickets, with a few bugs and some cutworms, and a few other insects, make up 

 the rest of the animal food. The vegetable food consists of fruit and a few seeds. 

 The kingbird deserves full protection. (See Biol. Surv. Bui. 44, pp. 11-19.) 



NIGHTHAWK (Chordeiles virginianus). 



Length, 10 inches. Not to be confused with the whippoorwill. The latter 

 lives in woodland and is chiefly nocturnal. The nighthawk often flies by day, 

 when the white bar across the wing and its nasal cry are distinguisliing. 



Range: Breeds throughout most of the United States and Canada; winters in 

 South America, 



Habits and economic status: The skillful evolutions of a company of night- 

 hawks as the birds gracefully cleave the air in intersecting circles is a sight to be 

 remembered . So expert are they on the wing that no insect is safe from them, even 

 the swift dragonfly being captured with ease. 

 Unfortunately their erratic flight tempts men 

 to use them for targets, and this inexcusable 

 practice is seriously diminishing their numbers, 

 whicli is deplorable, since no birds are more 

 useful. This species makes no nest, but lays its 

 two spotted eggs on the bare ground, sometimes 

 on the gravel roof of the city house. The night- 

 hawk is a voracious feeder and is almost exclu- 

 sively insectivorous. Some stomachs contained 

 from 30 to 50 different kinds of insects, and 

 more than 600 kinds have been identified from 

 the stomachs thus far examined. From 500 to 

 1,000 ants are often found in a stomach . Several 

 species of mosquitoes, including Anopheles, the 

 transmitter of malaria, are eaten. Other well- 

 known pests destroyed by the nighthawk are 

 the Colorado potato beetle, cucumber beetles, 

 chestnut, rice, clover-leaf and cotton-boll wee- 

 vils, billbugs, bark beetles, squash bugs, and 

 moths of the cotton worm. 



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