Keyser once saw a Kingbird attack a 

 woodpecker which had unconsciously 

 flown too near its nest. "The Kingbird 

 swooped toward him, and alighted on his 

 back. The next moment the two birds, 

 the Kingbird on the woodpecker's back, 

 went racing across the meadow like a 

 streak of zig-zag lightning, making a 

 clatter that frightened every echo' from 

 its hiding-place. That gamy flycatcher 

 actually clung to the woodpecker's back 

 until he reached the other end of the 

 meadow. I cannot be sure, but he 

 seemed to be holding to the woodpeck- 

 er's dorsal feathers with his bill. The 

 bantam fellow that he was, he dashed 

 back to the orchard with a loud chipper- 

 ing of exultation." 



While the food of the Kingbird con- 

 sists of both animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances, it has been shown that about 

 ninety per cent of its food is animal mat- 

 ter. Beetles form the principal article of 

 its diet, though its menu also includes 

 grasshoppers, butterflies, wild bees, wasps, 

 flies, spiders, millepeds and small min- 

 nows. The Kingbird renders a great 

 service to horses and cattle in the killing 

 of large numbers of gadflies, which 

 greatly annoy domestic animals dur- 

 ing the summer months. Nearly all 

 are captured while the bird is on the 

 wing, and in true flycatcher style it darts 

 after the flying insect from a perch on 

 an exposed limb of a tree or shrub, on a 

 fence post or a telegraph pole, or on the 

 apex of a tall field weed. The Kingbird 

 has been accused of possessing a great 

 fondness for bees and, for this reason, 

 has been given the names Bee Bird and 

 Bee Marten. Because of this supposed 

 habit of eating bees, the Kingbird has 

 been considered an enemy by bee keepers. 

 However, Major Bendise, and other in- 

 vestigators, believe that the damage done 

 in this respect is greatly exaggerated, 

 and that but few working bees will be 

 found in the contents of the Kingbird's 

 stomach, the majority of the bees which 

 are taken by the bird being drones. 



Kingbirds place their nests in a variety 

 of trees, shrubs and bushes. These may 

 be orchard trees, the ornamental variety 

 or the wild species. Major Bendise men- 

 tions twenty species of trees in which 

 nests have been found. They have also 

 been known to nest on the top of a fence 



rail, and also on the top of a fence post. 

 Both the male and the female birds assist 

 in the construction of the nest. This is 

 a compact and quite symmetrical struc- 

 ture and varies both in size and bulk. 

 While the materials used vary consider- 

 ably and depend upon kinds furnished by 

 the environment of the nest, the typical 

 nest is made of small twigs and weed 

 stalks, interwoven with plant down, 

 grasses, twine, moss and hair. The nest is 

 lined with fine grasses, plant down, soft 

 rootlets and some horsehair. It is said 

 that in the willow swamps of Louisana 

 the Kingbirds sometimes use. only the 

 willow catkins in the construction of their 

 nests. In many southern localities where 

 the Spanish moss is abundant, it is fre- 

 quently used in building the outer walls 

 cf the nest, almost to the entire exclu- 

 sion of other materials. 



The male is always solicitous for the 

 welfare of his mate, her eggs and the 

 young. While he spends much of his 

 time guarding the nest from a sightly 

 lookout near his home, he also relieves 

 his mate, from time to time, from the du- 

 ties of incubation so that she may obtain 

 food. Though a pair of Kingbirds show 

 a very marked devotion for each other 

 and for .their home and young, they are 

 not very sociable with other pairs until 

 after the breeding season is over and the 

 fall migration begins. 



The male Kingbird has various ways 

 of showing his devotion to his mate. He 

 is always affectionate in all his actions 

 toward her and materially assists her 

 in the feeding of their young. Mr. Ern- 

 est E. Thompson says : "The Kingbird 

 has a peculiar method of expressing his 

 devotion to his mate. On the warm 

 spring evenings he may be seen leav- 

 ing his post by her side, in some low 

 tree, and launching out he rises to a 

 height of thirty or forty feet in the air 

 and gives vent to a tremendous sustained 

 volley of screams and twitters, during 

 which he continues to dart backward and 

 forward in a frantic sort of way, making 

 a very demonstrative but harmless charge 

 at any passing. bird, and illustrating sev- 

 eral fanciful methods of flight until, hav- 

 ing relieved his feelings and covered him- 

 self with glory, he swoops down into the 

 bush to receive the applause of the only 

 spectator he seeks to please." 



