AMERIOAN ORNITBOLOGY. 147 



a quarter of a mile away; poising above him, one after the other would dash 

 down and strike him on the back. I do not know whether they pecked him 

 or pulled his feathers, but at any rate they made the old fellow very uncom- 

 able, and every few minutes he would cease circling and turning on his back, 

 in mid-air, extend his feet towards his tormentors to warn them off, but 

 they kept at him until he had passed over the house and gone about a quar- 

 ter of a mile beyond. If an eagle's path through life is often as thorny as 

 was that of the above mentioned bird in traversing the half mile that I watch- 

 ed, I am sorry for them. 



I have also seen Kingbirds attack and drive away from the vicinity of 

 the nests, grackles, red and gray squirrels and, on one occasion, I saw a pair 

 of Kingbirds attack and kill a black snake about four feet long, that was 

 climbing in some bushes within a few feet of their nest ; when I looked at the 

 reptile after they had got through with him, his head and neck had been 

 poiuided and pecked to a jelly. 



Possibly it is the little gold and orange crown patch that seems to give 

 these birds an air of royalty, and certainly you always find them in the most 

 commanding positions, whether it be on the top twig of an apple tree, on a 



Egg of Kingbird. 



fence post, or onlj;- on the top of a weed in the meadow or pasture. Each 

 bird has his regular round of lookout perches, from which he dashes after 

 his food, and usually becomes very angry if any other bird makes use of any 

 one of them. Their nests are quite bulky but substantially made by quilting 

 together grass, weeds, fiber and wool, and lining it with fine grasses and 

 feathers; they often have a very ragged appearance on the outside and may 

 have rags or paper incorporated in their make-up, but they are always firm- 

 ly built and securely attached to their support which may be an upright fork 

 or a horizontal bough. They build without choice in orchard trees, an the tops 

 of tall trees along banks of streams or roadsides, or in bushes near the 

 ground; sometimes they also build in corners of fences. Only a few weeks 

 ago I was on the island of Nantucket, south of Massachusetts, and found 

 quantities of Kingbirds, but where the birds were most abundant there seem- 

 ed to be a scarcity of suitable nesting places ; after watching them for some 

 time, I found that they were nesting in blueberry bushes, which were abund- 

 ant. I found one nest in a small patch, and not over two feet from the 

 ground. 



