298 



NEBT8 AND EGGS OF 



the introduction of cotton gins and sheep ranches most of the nests are built of 

 weeds and cotton or wool, or both felted, lined with the same, but oftener with no 

 lining. Mr. E. C. Davis informs me that the favorite nesting site of this bird in 

 Cooke county, Texas, is in the low mesquite bushes on the prairies. He has fre- 

 quently found double nests; one now in his collection consists of three nests built 

 on each other and made entirely of cotton, measuring fifteen inches from top to 

 bottom. Mr. Singley says the usual number of eggs in a set is five, fully eighty per 

 cent, being of this number; the other twenty per cent, is about equally distributed 

 between sets of four and six. They are white, or creamy-white, marked with a few 

 dark red spots, and occasionally of an obscure purple, chiefly at ,the larger end; the 

 eggs vary in color from pure white, unmarked specimens, which are very rare, to 

 finely speckled with reddish-brown, and often covered with large spots and blotches 

 of brown and lilac, and look as if whitewash had been brushed over the colors. 

 Their average size is .87x.67. A male specimen of the Scissor-talled Flycatcher was 

 taken near Marietta, O., May 20, 1894, by Mr. Frank H. Welder, the skiD of which 

 is now in his collection. This, I believe, is the first record of the bird having been 

 taken in the state. 



444. KINGBIKD. Tyrannus tyraniiiis 

 (Linn.) Geog. Dist.— Eastern temperate North 

 America, south to Central and Western South 

 America to Bolivia; Cuba; Bahamas. Rare west 

 of the Rocky Mountains. 



A common bird in Eastern United States, 

 and perhaps better known by the name of Bee- 

 bird or Bee-martin. It destroys thousands of 

 noxious insects, which more than compensates 

 for all the bees it eats. This bird's pugnacious 

 disposition during the breeding season, the bold- 

 ness, persistent tenacity, and reckless courage 

 with which it attacks other birds, even crows, 

 hawke and owls, are .characteristics familiar to , 

 all. The nest is placed in an orchard or garden, 

 or by the roadside, on a horizontal bough, or in 

 a fork at a moderate height; sometimes in the 

 top of the tallest trees along streams. It is 

 bulky, openly situated, a.nd as easily found as 

 that of the Robin. Exteriorly it is ragged and 

 loose, but well cupped and brimmed, consisting 

 of twigs, weedstalks, grasses, rootlets, bits of 

 vegetable-down and wool firmly matted to- 

 gether. The lining is of slender grasses, chicken 

 feathers, horse hair, fibres, rootlets and wool, 

 used singly or combined in various proportions. 

 The eggs range from three to five in number. 

 A large series before me exhibit a wonderful di- 

 vei'sity in their markings; . the ground color is 

 either white or creamy-white, and the common 

 type is spotted with rich umber and chestnut- 

 red. The sizes vary from .80 to 1.05 in length by 

 .69 to .75 in breadth. The average size of forty 

 specimens is .97x.70. Sometimes sets of these 

 eggs are found almost wholly unmarked. 



445. GRAY KINGBIRD. Tyrannus domin- 

 icensis (Gmel.) Geog. Dist. — South Carolina, 

 Georgia and Florida; West Indies, coasts of the 

 Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Accidental 

 in Massachusetts. 



A larger species than the common Kingbird, 

 444 Kingbird. but its general aopearance. habits and nest- 



