12 Bird Portraits 



is angry or excited, these red feathers blaze out. They are very 

 rarely seen by men, but I imagine the Crows see them oftener 

 than they like. 



Apple trees in old orchards are favorite nesting places of the 

 Kingbird, and no pains are taken to conceal the nest. It is com- 

 posed of twigs loosely laid together, and often festooned with white 

 strings or the dry, woolly heads of the mouse-ear everlasting. The 

 inside of the nest is neatly lined with feathers, horsehair, or roots, 

 and contains from three to five white eggs spotted with brown. The 

 Kingbird is here from the first of May to the first of September, 

 but like all strictly insectivorous birds, it must spend the winter 

 far to the southward. The bird's only notes are the shrill cries, 

 kipper, kipper, given singly or quickly repeated. In spring the birds 

 often mount to a considerable height, uttering this cry continually, 

 and apparently attempting, by this exhibition, to express the emotion 

 common to all creatures at this period of the year. 



The Kingbird is a very satisfactory bird to beginners; the color 

 pattern is so marked and the bird is so fond of exposed situations 

 that it is seen and recognized without difficulty. Except the Cedar- 

 bird, whose tail is tipped with yellow, I know no other small bird of 

 the eastern United States whose tail feathers are all tipped with a 

 regular edge of light color. The Kingbird is the bird most commonly 

 seen from a car window; in almost every field, the mullein stalks or 

 wire fences will display one or more individuals, their white breasts 

 or black and white tails showing conspicuously in the landscape. 



The Kingbird has often been accused of destroying honeybees. 

 Even allowing that individuals occasionally do some damage in this 

 way, the good services of the race in destroying harmful insects far 

 outweigh these injuries, and the remedy is to drive the bird away 

 from the hives, not to kill it. 



