202 



The Kingbird. 



in Idaho, Oregon and Washington Terri- 

 tory and sparingly in California. 



When the Kingbird reaches the Northern 

 States, it seems for a while rather subdued, 

 as if fatigued by its long journey, but it 

 soon recovers its spirits and becomes the 

 sprightly vivacious bird we know so well. 

 The birds now choose their mates and 

 soon the pleasing toil of nest-building be- 

 gins. The site chosen varies indefinitely. 

 Often it is in an apple tree in the orchard, 

 or in a pear tree in the garden close to the 

 house, but in our experience a favorite tree 

 is the so-called buttonball, or sycamore, 

 tree [Platanus occidentalis). The nest is 

 usually so placed as to be supported at the 

 bottom by the branch on which it rests and 

 at the sides by one or more twigs rising 

 from that branch so that it is doubly secure 

 against accident from storms. The outside 

 of the nest is composed of small twigs and 

 weed stalks, roughly woven together; upon 

 this are placed locks of wool, tufts of cot- 

 ton or cow hair, and the whole is neatly 

 lined with fine roots, grasses and horse 

 hair. In this warm nest are deposited the 

 eggs, which are usually four in number, 

 but sometimes six. They are large for the 

 size of the bird, and when fresh are of deli- 

 cate creamy hue, thickly spotted with large 

 dots of bright brown. The creamy tint of 

 the fresh egg is due to the yellow yolk 

 which shows through the shell, for when 

 the contents are removed, the color of the 

 egg is a dead white. Two broods are 

 often hatched and reared in a season. 



The nest of the Kingbird is often built 

 in the garden or in some tree quite close 

 to the house, and the birds render an im- 

 portant service to man by driving away 

 the predatory species which, but for them, 

 might destroy the farmers' poultry. More- 

 over, their food, during the greater part of 

 their sojourn with us, consists wholly of 

 insects, of which they destroy vast num- 

 bers. In some parts of the country there 

 is a prejudice against them from the fact 



that they feed to some extent on honey 

 bees, and this habit has given them the 

 name of Bee Martin, and sometimes leads 

 to their being killed, but as a rule every 

 one has the friendliest feeling for the King- 

 bird, and desires his protection. 



Toward autumn when the birds are mak- 

 ing their preparations for their flight south- 

 ward, the Kingbird eats various wild fruits, 

 such as blackberries, pokeberries, and those 

 of the dogwood, sassafras, red cedar, elder 

 and Virginia creeper. Nuttall, who had an 

 opportunity of observing one of these birds 

 in confinement, made some observations on 

 it which are sufficiently interesting to be 

 quoted at length. He says: "Raisins, 

 foreign currants, grapes, cherries, peaches, 

 pears, and apples were never even tasted, 

 when offered to a bird of this kind, which 

 I had many months as my pensioner; of 

 the last, when roasted, sometimes however 

 a few mouthfuls were relished in the ab- 

 sence of other more agreeable diet. Ber- 

 ries he always swallowed whole, grass- 

 hoppers, if too large, were pounded and 

 broken on the floor, as he held them in his 

 bill. To manage the larger beetles was 

 not so easy; these he struck repeatedly 

 against the ground, and then turned them 

 from side to side by throwing them dex- 

 terously into the air, after the manner of 

 the toucan, and the insect was uniformly 

 caught reversed as it descended, with the 

 agility of a practiced cup-and-ball-player. 

 At length the pieces of the beetle were 

 swallowed, and he remained still to digest 

 his morsel, tasting it distinctly, soon after 

 it entered the stomach, as became obvious 

 by the ruminating motion of his mandibles. 

 When the soluble portion was taken up, 

 large pellets of the indigestible wings, legs, 

 and shells, as likewise the skins and seeds 

 of berries, were, in half an hour or less, 

 brought up and ejected from the mouth in 

 the manner of the hawks and owls. When 

 other food failed, he appeared very well 

 .satisfied with fresh minced meat, and drank 



