256 THE CRESTED TYRANT. 



than a match for him ; and I have several times witnessed his precipitous retreat before this 

 active antagonist. This is the purple martin, one whose food and disposition is pretty similar 

 to his own, but who has greatly the advantage of him on the wing, in eluding all his attacks, 

 and teasing him as he pleases. I have also seen the red-hooded woodpecker, while clinging 

 on a rail of the fence, amuse himself with the violence of the King Bird, and play bo-peep 

 with him round the rail, while the latter, highly irritated, made every attempt, as he swept 

 from side to side, to strike him, but in vain. All this turbulence, however, vanishes as soon as 

 his young are able to shift for themselves, and he is then as mild and peaceable as any other 

 bird." 



Audubon relates an account of a battle between a martin and King Bird, wherein the 

 former proved victorious. The martin had long held sole possession of a farm-yard, and when 

 a King Bird came to build its nest within the same locality, it assaulted the intruder with the 

 utmost fury. The act of building on the forbidden ground aroused the anger of the martin to 

 such an extent, that whenever the male King Bird passed with materials, the martin attacked, 

 and by force of superior agility dashed its foe to the ground. At last the poor King Bird died, 

 being worn out with continual struggles, and its mate was forced to leave that spot. 



The flesh of the King Bird is held in some estimation in one or two of the States, and the 

 bird is shot in order to supply the table. 



The narrator further proceeds to observe, that the King Bird is in great disfavor with the 

 farmers, who are in the habit of shooting it whenever they can find an opportunity, on account 

 of its fondness for bees. It cannot be denied that the suspicions of the bee-owner are not 

 without foundation, for the King Bird will perch upon a rail or fence near the hives, and from 

 that elevated post pounce upon the bees as they leave or return to their homes. Many per- 

 sons, however, think that it does not devour the working bees, but merely singles out the 

 drones, thus sparing the workers the trouble of killing those idle members of the community 

 at the end of the season. This supposition derives some force from the well-known fact, that 

 the King Bird is very fastidious in its taste, and that it will watch the flight of many insects 

 in succession before it can select one to its taste. Even if it should destroy a few hundred bees 

 annually, it repays the loss a thousand-fold by the enormous destruction which it works among 

 the caterpillars and other noxious insects during the earlier parts of the year ; and, according 

 to Wilson, every Kim;' Bird shot is a clear loss to the farmer. 



The food of the King Bird, although mostly of an insect character, and perhaps wholly so 

 in the spring and summer, is sometimes mixed with vegetable substances, and in the autumn 

 the bird delights in berries and ripe fruits, the blackberry being one especial favorite. It 

 often hovers over streams and rivers, chasing insects like the swallow, and occasionally dash- 

 ing into the water for a bath, and then sitting to plume its feathers on some convenient branch 

 overhanging the water. 



The flight of the King Bird varies according to circumstances. When it is migrating it 

 flaps its wings rapidly six or seven times in succession, and then sails onwards for a consid- 

 erable distance, repeating this process continually as it proceeds on its long voyage. During 

 the flight it is perfectly silent, ami associates in bands of twenty or thirty in number. But in 

 the season of love the bird dashes some thirty yards aloft, and there hangs with quivering 

 wings and milled plumes, uttering the while a continual low shriek. 



The nest of the bird, which is so valiantly defended by the parent, is generally begun in 

 the beginning of May. and is placed among the branches of a tree. The substances of which it 

 is composed are slender twigs, wood, vegetable fibres, line grasses, and horsehair. There is 

 another species of tyrant, the Crested Tyrant (Tyrannus cristatus), which employs many 

 similar materials for its nest, hay, feathers, hogs' bristles, dogs' hair, and the cast exuviae of 

 snakes. The last substance seems to lie absolutely essential to the birds' comfort, for Wilson 

 says that of all the numerous nests which he discovered, he never found one without some 

 of this curious material. The eggs of the King Bird are generally live in number, and there 

 are mostly two broods in the year. 



With the exception of the few bright feathers of the crest, the plumage of the King Bird 

 is of a rather sombre character. The head is black, but when the bird raises the crest feathers. 



