3o8 THE KINGBIRD. 



insect prey. The birds are rather quarrelsome, especiaUy among themselves. 

 A fight between four or five males such as one observer reports, must be a 

 spectacular affair — equal to one of those other occasions celebrated in the song 

 of their native land, "When dey's razors a'flyin' troo de air." 



No. 136. 



KINGBIRD. 



A. O. U. No. 444. Tyrannus tyrannus (Linn.). 



Description. — Adult : Above ashy black changing to pure black on head, 

 and fuscous on wings; cro.wn with a concealed orange-red (cadmium orange) 

 patch or "crest," the orange feathers black-tipped and overlying others broadly 

 white at base; wings with whitish and brownish ash edgings; tail black, all the 

 feathers broadly white-tipped, and the outermost pair often white-edged; below 

 white, washed with grayish on breast; bill and feet black. Immature birds lack 

 the crown-patch, and are more or less tinged with fulvous or buffy on the parts 

 which are light-colored in the adult. Length 8.00-9.00 (203.-228.6) ; av. of four 

 Columbus specimens: wing 4.60 (116.8) ; tail 3.31 (84.1) ; bill from nostril .52 

 (I3-2). 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size ; blackish ash above ; white below ; black 

 tail conspicuously tipped with white; noisy and quarrelsome. 



Nest, of weed-stalks, plant-fibres and trash, with a felted mat of plant-down 

 or wool, and an inner lining of fine grasses, feathers, rootlets, etc. Eggs, 3 or 4 

 sometimes 5, white or cream-white, distinctly but sparingly spotted with dark 

 umber and occasional chestnut. Av. size, .98 x .73 (24.9 x 18.5). 



General Range. — North America from the British Provinces south; in win- 

 ter through eastern Mexico, Central and South America. Less common west of 

 the Rocky Mountains. Not recorded from northern Mexico and Arizona. 



Range in Ohio. — Common summer resident throughout the state. 



STERN republicans that we all are, we nevertheless delight in the tales 

 of ancient tyranny, if only to shudder at them. And surely the fascinating 

 complex of modern international politics would lose full half its charm if there 

 were not half a dozen autocrats to deal with, to flatter, to cajole, to outwit, 

 and secretly to admire. And surely, too, no sane bird-lover would willingly 

 dispense with the presence in our midst of the Kingbird, that arch-tyrant of 

 the winged world. He is King by divine right, if there be such a thing, for 

 he is crowned when he comes of age without any intervention of man. He fairly 

 bursts with self-importance at all times, and the conscientious effort of his ma- 



