THE KINGBIED; 239 



hawthorn, locust, wild plum, orange, and lemon, as well as in shrubs and bushes 

 of different kinds, generally at a distance of from 4 to 40 feet from the ground. 

 They are usually placed in a fork or crotch "on a horizontal branch, and fre- 

 quently well out on the limb. They are not at all particular in the selection of 

 a nesting site ; I have seen nests placed on a fence rail (sometimes on top of one) 

 and again between the rails not over 2 feet from the ground, in the hollow tops 

 of stumps, and in abandoned nests of the Robin and the Bronzed Grackle. 

 Dr. A. K. Fisher informs me that at Red Cloud, Nebraska, on July 3, 1893, a 

 female was found sitting on a nest placed on top of a fence post, near the rail- 

 road track. It is not evident why this site was chosen, as plenty of trees grew in 

 the vicinity. There was no shelter above to protect the nest from the sun, and 

 when seen the female Avas panting from the heat. 



Mr. Elmer T. Judd, of Cando, North Dakota, writes: "A pair of these birds 

 were noticed building a nest on a sulky plow, and after the nest was nearly 

 completed the plow was required and used, but the nest was not disturbed. On 

 finishing the work I put the plow back in about the same place, and after a day 

 or two of. consideration the birds finished the nest, laid their eggs, and raised a 

 brood of young. Two little girls used to visit the place every day, and the bird 

 would almost let them put their hands on it before leaving the nest. In this 

 section they usually lay our eggs, and the earliest date of nesting is June 

 29; the latest, the third week in July. Their favorite nesting sites here ai'e in 

 wild plum bushes, from 4 to 6 feet from the ground, and I have also noticed 

 them nesting in eave troughs and binders." 



The Kingbird, like jnany other species, after selecting a suitable nesting 

 site and raising its young unmolested, will generally return to it from year to 

 year. The nest is usually well and compactly built, and varies more or less in 

 size and bulk, according to the site. A typical nest now before me, taken by Dr. 

 Edgar A. Mearns, United States Army, near Fort Snelling, Minnesota, measures 

 about 5^ inches in outer diameter by 3^ inches in depth; its inner diameter 

 is 3 inches by If inches deep. Its exterior is constructed of small twigs and 

 dry weed stems, mixed with cottouAvood down, pieces of twine, and a little hair. 

 The inner cup is lined with fine dry grass, a few rootlets, and a small quantity 

 of horsehaii-. In other specimens bits of avooI, strips of bark, thistle down, cattle 

 hair, and fine rootlets are incorporated in the body of the nest. In the South the 

 gray Spanish moss frequently forms the bulk of the outer walls, while in the Adi- 

 rondack mountains, in Herkimer County, New York, in June, 1892, Dr. Ralph 

 and the writer took a nest of this species from a crotch formed by the trunk 

 and two broken branches of a small dead birch stump, about 8 feet from 

 the ground, which was externally constructed of the long, green tree moss of 

 that region, mixed with a few fine roots and twigs, milkweed down, weeds, and 

 grasses, and lined with fine roots, hair, milkweed down, a little tree-moss, Ursnea, 

 and a few blades of fine grass. The stump stood by itself on the edge of a 

 small swamp, and the nest could be plainly seen for some distance. Mr. E. A. 

 Mcllhenny tells me that in the willow swamps in southern Louisiana these birds 



