238 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMERIOAi^ BIRDS. 



twittering notes like "pthsee, pthsee," varied now and then with other calls which 

 are rather difficult to express in print; one of these sounds like "twip-ip-ip-ip." 

 Occasionally their flight is apparently accomplished Avithout perceptible move- 

 ment of the wings, as if gliding along in the air, and again they speed away Avith 

 the swiftness of an ai'row in pursuit of an insect or an enemy, doubling on it 

 Avith the greatest ease. The males are especially pugnacious during the mating 

 season, and fierce combats ensue between rivals for the possession of die coveted 

 female; but after they are mated they rarely fight among themselves, but quickly 

 come to each other's assistance against a common enemy. 



From the observations made in the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, about 90 per cent of the food of this species consists of animal matter, 

 principally beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies, spiders, Avild bees, Avasps, and milli- 

 peds; to this list can be added caterpillars, different species of flies, like the 

 large black gadfly, so annoying to horses and cattle during the summer months, 

 and small minnows. The greater portion of the food is taken on the wing, 

 although it feeds also to some extent on the ground. The bird may usually be 

 seen perched on a Ioav limb of a solitary tree or bush in a pastui'e, on a fence 

 post, a telegraph wire along some country road, or even on a weed stalk in a field, 

 whence it darts after any passing insect. The snapping together of its mandi- 

 bles after catching its prey can be heai'd quite a little distance aAvay. With 

 a fcAv bee keepers the Kingbird does not stand in the best repute, as it is sup- 

 posed to destroy many bees; but I believe that the damage done in this respect 

 is greatly exaggerated, and on closer examination I am of the opinion that 

 very few working bees will be found among the contents of their stomachs, and 

 that the majority taken by them are drones, Avhich do not store honey, and that 

 the bee keeper is actually benefited by their destruction. The vegetable matter 

 found in their stomachs consists mainly of sassafras and spicebush berries, wild 

 chokecherries, juniper and dogwood berries, mulberries, blackberries, huckle- 

 berries, elderberries, pokeberries, and frost grapes. In southern Louisiana, Mr. 

 E. A. Mcllhenny tells me, the Kingbird feeds extensively on the berries of the 

 prickly ash and Tabasco peppers, becoming a great nuisance on the pepper plan- 

 tations. The flesh becomes quite pungent from this food; the bird is considered 

 a delicacy there, and numbers are shot and command a good price in the local 

 markets. It gathers in large flocks in the fall, and is locally known there as 

 "Gross Grasset." The indigestible portions, like the wing covers of beetles, the 

 legs of grasshoppers, and seeds of berries, are ejected in pellets. The Kingbird 

 loves a rather open country, and is rarely found nesting' at any great distance 

 from Avater, and it shuns densely timbered tracts. 



In the more southern sections of its breeding range nidification begins 

 usually in the first half of May, while in northern New York and our North- 

 Avestern States it rarely nests before June, more generally in the latter part of 

 this month, and still later in the extreme northern parts of its range. The nests 

 are placed in various kinds of trees, such as apple, pear, tiilip, chestnut, ehxi, 

 poplar, cottonAvood, willoAv, oak, sycamore, osage orange, cedar, maple, birch. 



