BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
23 
mischief-loving boys. iSIostly the birds select for building purjDOses the 
topmost boughs where the densest foliage abounds, although instances are 
known to us, through actual observation, where such structures have been 
found hut five feet from the ground. Again, nests have been met with on 
the borders of deep forests, in situations remote from man, which fact 
seems to point to the conclusion that the habit of building in orchards 
has been acquired since the peopling of this country by human beings. 
The fondness of the Kingbird for the little honey-bee, whose hives are 
generally jjlaced contiguous to human dwellings, has, doubtless, through the 
desire to be near such articles of luxury, prompted the change of habitat. 
This species, like one of its near congeners, occasionally builds upon the 
timbers of a bridge. Dr. Brewer mentions a case which came under his 
observation in the summer of 1851. While the doctor was passing over 
a bridge near the village of Aylesford, N. S., he w^as startled to see an 
individual of this species fly from a nest which was built on the projecting 
end of one of the planks of which the bridge was composed. “ So remark- 
ably exposed a position, open to view and on a level with and within a 
few feet of the highway,” says he, “ must be quite unusual.” One fact 
which the same distinguished writer mentions, showing that the Kingbird, 
during the breeding-season, is not always the same ugly, pugnacious little 
creature which is claimed for him, must not be omitted in this connection. 
The circumstance to which we refer, occurred in the summer of 1871. A 
pair of these birds had built a nest in an apple-tree, near the doctor’s 
residence and within four feet of the nest of the Baltimore Oriole, and 
not more than eight or ten feet from the abode of a couj^le of Robins, all 
in the same tree. These three pairs were on evident terms of friendshq) 
and good-will. The male Kingbird, from the topmost bough, kejh a vigi- 
lant lookout for danger, and seemed to have all under his special cai’e, 
but manifested not the slightest disposition to molest or annoy. 
Few species are more careless in the selection of nesting materials. 
Almost anything of the proper length and requisite degree of flexibility is 
utilized. Herbaceous stems, leaves of deciduous trees, strips of the inner 
