KINGBIRD. 409 
live in peace near him when feeding on similar food; and 
though lame of a wing, he often watched his opportunity for 
reprisal and revenge, and became so jealous that, instead of 
being amused by companions, sometimes he caught hold of 
them with his bill, and seemed inclined to destroy them for 
invading his usurped privileges. In September the Kingbird 
begins to leave the United States and proceeds to pass the 
winter in tropical America. During the period of migration 
southward, Audubon remarks that they fly and sail through the 
air with great ease at a considerable elevation ; and they thus 
continue their silent retreat throughout the night until about 
the first of October, when they are no longer to be seen 
within the limits of the Middle States. 
All lovers of birds and of justice will thank Mrs. Olive Thorne 
Miller for her noble defence of this chivalrous and much maligned 
bird, which appeared in the “ Atlantic Monthly ” for August, 1890. 
The systematists have dubbed him “tyrant of the tyrants,” but 
his friends know him to be a true knight, the real “king of the 
air.” 
Nore. — The ARKANSAS KINGBIRD (7. verticalis) differs from 
tyrannus in being light ashy gray on head, neck, and breast, and 
other lower parts yellow. In size the two birds are much the same, 
some examples of the Western form being slightly larger. 
Its habitat is the Western plains ; but specimens have been taken 
in the Middle and Northern States. 
