240 LIFE HISTORIES OE NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



construct their nests entirely out of willow catkins, without any sticks whatever, 

 and that the nests can be squeezed together in the hand like a hall. 



The male assists in the construction of the nest, and to some extent in the 

 duties of incubation. He relieves the female from time to time to allow her to 

 feed, guards the nesting site, and is usually perched on a limb close by, where 

 he has a good view of the surroundings. Even when so -engaged he rarely sits 

 entirely quiet, but every few minutes elevates his crest and looks around for a 

 possible enemy. An egg is deposited daily, and incubation lasts from twelve 

 to thirteen days. The young while in the nest are fed entirely on animal food 

 and are able to leave it in about two weeks after hatching, and soon learn to 

 provide for themselves. A second brood is occasionally raised in the more 

 southern portions of their breeding range. 



The Kingbird is not particularly sociable, each pair keeping pretty much 

 to themselves during the breeding season, and later in family parties, until the 

 winter migration commences, when they gather in flocks and depart for the 

 south. 



Three or four eggs are laid to a set; in some localities three seems to be 

 the rule. This is especially the case in the more southern portions of their 

 breeding range, while farther north they generally lay four. Although the 

 Kingbird is credited by several writers as laying from three to five eggs, and 

 sometimes even six, I have never seen a larger set than four among the many 

 examined, and sets of even five eggs must be considered as very unusual. The 

 ground color of these eggs varies from white or pale creamy white to a very 

 faint rose pink, and they are spotted and blotched with chestnut, claret brown, 

 cinnamon, rufous, heliotrope purple, and lavender. The markings vary greatly, 

 both in size and quantity, but are generally heaviest about the larger end of the 

 egg. In the more finely marked specimens the spots are usually more profuse 

 and evenly distributed, and occasionally an almost unmarked egg is found. The 

 shell is rather smooth, close-grained, moderately strong, and slightly glossy. 

 The eggs are mostly ovate in shape, ranging from this to short and rounded 

 ovate, and a few are elongate ovate. 



The average measurement of one hundred and forty eggs in the United 

 States National Museum collection is 24.06 by 18.21 millimetres, or about 0.95 

 by 0.72 inch. The largest egg of the series measures 26.92 by 19.30 millimetres, 

 or 1.06 by 0.76 inches; the smallest, 20.83 by 17.27 millimetres, or 0.82 by 0.68 

 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 22299 (PI. 1, Fig. 14), from a set of four eggs taken 

 by Mr. Denis Gale, near Gold Hill, Boulder County, Colorado, on June 25, 1884, 

 shows one of the less marked examples; and No. 25052 (PL 1, Fig. 15), from a 

 set of three eggs taken by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, United States Army, near Fort 

 Snelling, Minnesota, on June 13, 1890, represents a well-marked specimen. 



