SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 237 



what might possibly happen were the Hawk to rise quickly 

 above its adversary. Nevertheless, the Kingbird fears him 

 not. If an Eagle appears near the Kingbird's nest he is 

 immediately assailed by all the warrior tribe and driven in- 

 gloriously from the field. The Kingbird thus acts as pro- 

 tector and friend to its weaker neighbors and to the farmer's 

 poultry and Pigeons. 



The brave bird sometimes does not hesitate to attack 

 even man himself in defence of its nest. It used to be a 

 favorite pastime with the boys on one farm to throw up a 

 hat near a Kingbird's nest and see the birds attack it. I 

 have seen a boy repeatedly struck on the head by the parent 

 birds when he was climbing toward their nestful of young. 

 Nevertheless, the Kingbird, in harrying his neighbors, some- 

 times meets his match in the Catbird, Oriole, Martin, or 

 little Hummingbird. The following interesting account of 

 the nesting of a Kingbird in a rather unusual situation is 

 taken from Mr. Kirkland's notes : — 



Jdne 29, 1896. — Near the Shady Hill station, Bedford, Mass., a 

 Kingbird has built its nest directly on the top of a fence post, and in. a 

 location where there is no shade whatever on the nest during the middle 

 of the day. The fence stands beside a roadway, where in early sum- 

 mer teams pass a hundred times a day. The fence is made of old rail- 

 road ties or posts, with barbed wire running between them. The nest 

 is on the corner post, and from this corner a board fence extends at 

 right angles down to the railroad track. The top of the post on which 

 the nest is located is about six by eight inches, with a depression in the 

 center where the wood has decayed. The nest occupies this depression, 

 and is made of grass, string, and cotton waste. At the time of my visit 

 to Bedford there were four partly fledged young in the nest, and these 

 the old birds were constantly feeding. From their vantage ground on 

 the telegraph wires near by they would swoop down, catch an insect 

 or two, and then fly to the nest. I could approach within six feet of 

 the birds. I was told by Mr. Beard, owner of Shady Hill nursery, that 

 durinc the hottest weather one of the parent birds would stand over the 

 young ones, and, with wings outstretched and vibrating, would shade 

 them and keep them cool. 



In this large nursery there were many small trees, but 

 scarcely a tree large enough for the Kingbird's nest. The 

 insects on the young trees probably proved so attractive as 



