TYRANT FLYCATCHER, OR KING BIRD. 143 
shift for themselves: and he is then as mild and peaceable as any 
other bird. 
But he has a wors2 habit than all these,—one much more obnoxious 
to the husbandman, and often fatal to himself. He loves, not the 
honey, but the bees ; and, it must be confessed, is frequently on the 
look-out for these little industrious insects. He plants himself on a 
post of the fence, or on a small tree in the garden, not far from the hives, 
and from thence sallies on them as they pass and repass, making great 
havock among their numbers. His shrill twitter, so near to the house, 
gives intimation to the farmer of what is going on, and the gun soon 
closes his career forever. Man arrogates to himself, in this case, the 
exclusive privilege of murder; and, after putting thousands of these 
same little insects to death, seizes on the fruits of their labor. 
The King Birds arrive in Pennsylvania about the 20th of April, 
sometimes in small bodies of five and six together, and are at first 
very silent, until they begin to pair, and build their nest. This gener- 
ally takes place about the first week in May. The nest is very often 
built in the orchard, on the horizontal branch of an apple-tree; fre- 
quently also, at Catesby observes, on a sassafras-tree, at no great 
height from the ground. The outside consists of small slender twigs, 
tops of withered flowers of the plant yarrow, and others, well wove 
together with tow and wool; and is made large, and remarkably firm 
and compact. It is usually lined with fine, dry, fibrous grass, and 
horse hair. The eggs are five, of a very pale cream color, or dull 
white, marked with a few, large spots of deep purple, and other smaller 
ones of light brown, chiefly, though not altogether, towards the great 
end. They generally build twice in the season. 
The King Bird is altogether destitute of song, having only the 
shrill twitter above mentioned. His usual mode of flight is singular. 
The vibrations of his broad wings, as he moves slowly over the fields, 
resemble those of a Hawk hovering and settling in the air to recon- 
noitre the ground below; and the object of the King Bird is no doubt 
something similar, viz., to look out for passing insects, either in the 
air, or among the flowers and blossoms below him. In fields of pasture 
he often takes his stand on the tops of the mullein, and other rank 
weeds, near the cattle, and makes occasional sweeps after passing 
insects, particularly the large, black gadfly, so terrifying to horses and 
cattle. His eye moves restlessly around him, traces the flight of an 
insect for a moment or two, then that of a second, and even a third, 
until he perceives one to his liking, when, with a shrill sweep, he 
pursues, seizes it, and returns to the same spot again, to look out for 
more. This habit is so conspicuovs when he is watching the bee-hive, 
that several intelligent farmers of my acquaintance are of opinion 
that, he picks out only the drones, and never injures the working bees. 
Be this as it may, he certainly gives a preference to one bee, and one 
species of insect, over another. He hovers over the river, sometimes 
for a considerable time, darting after insects that frequent such places, 
snatching them from the surface of the water, and diving about in the 
air like a Swallow; for he possesses at will great powers of wing. 
Numbers of them are frequently seen thus engaged, for hours together, 
over the Rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, in a calm day, particularly 
towards evening. He bathes himself by diving repeatedly into the 
