Gentjs XL. MUSCICAPA. FLYCATCHEK. 

 Species I. M. TTRANNUS. 



TYRANT FLYCATCHER, or KING-BIRD. 



[Plato XIII. Fig. 1.] 



l^nius Tyrannus, Linn. Syst. 136. — Lath. Syn. i., 186. — Catesb. i., 55. — Le Ik/ran 

 dela Caroline, Buff, it., 577. PL Enl. 676.—Arct. Zool. p. 384, No. 263. 



This is the Field Martin of Maryland aiid«6ome of the Southern 

 States, and the King-hird of Pennsylvania and several of the northern 

 districts. The epithet Tyrant, which is generally applied to him by 

 naturalists, I am not altogether so well satisfied with ; some, however, 

 may think the two terms pretty nearly synonymous. 



The trivial name King as well as Tyrant has been bestowed on this 

 bird for its extraordinary behavior, and the authority it assumes over all 

 others, during the time of breeding. At that season his extreme affec- 

 tion for his mate, and for his nest and young, makes him suspicious of 

 every bird that happens to pass near his residence, so that he attacks 

 without discrimination, every intruder. In the months of May, June, 

 and part of July, his life is one continued scene of broils and battles, 

 in which, however, he generally comes off conqueror. Hawks and 

 Crows, the Bald Eagle, and the Great Black Eagle, all equally dread a 

 rencontre with this dauntless little champion, who, as soon as he per- 

 ceives one of these last approaching, launches into the air to meet him, 

 mounts to a considerable height above him, and darts down on his back, 

 sometimes fixing there to the great annoyance of his sovereign, who, if 

 no convenient retreat or resting place be near, endeavors by various 

 evolutions to rid himself of his merciless adversary. But the King-bird 

 is not so easily dismounted. He teases the Eagle incessantly, sweeps 

 upon him from right and left, remounts, that he may descend on his 

 back with the greater violence ; all the while keeping up a shrill and 

 rapid twittering ; and continuing the attack sometimes for more than a 

 mile, till he is relieved by some other of his tribe equally eager for the 

 contest. 



There is one bird, however, which by its superior rapidity of flight, is 

 sometimes more than a match for him ; and I have several times wit- 

 nessed his precipitate retreat before this active antagonist. This is the 



(128) 



