176 THE BIRDS 
FAMILY TYRANNID/E.—TYRANT FLY- 
CATCHERS. 
GENUS TYRANNUS. 
[444]. Tyrannus tyrannus (Linneus). Kingbird. 
[Betty Bee Martin. Bee Martin. Billy Bee]. 
Rayer.—North and South America. Breeds from 
southern British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, southern 
Keewatin, northern Ontario, central Quebcee, and New- 
foundland south to central Oregon, northern New Mexico, 
central Texas, and central Florida; winters from southern 
Mexico to Colombia, British Guiana, Peru, and Bolivia; 
casual in Cuba in migration; accidental in Greenland. 
This bird, better known to the local inhabitants as the 
Bee Martin, arrives about April 11th; the main flight 
of those continuing northward being at its height by the 
16th. As his name implies, he certainly is a tyrant, 
but generally for good. I know of no better bird around 
one’s farmyard as a poultry protector from crows and 
hawks than the Kingbird. Should either one of these 
robber birds chance to be passing by, or a black snake 
show himself near young chickens or ducks, of which they 
are very fond, Mr. Kingbird immediately launches forth 
from his near-by perch, and the pursuit only is discon- 
tinued after the intruders are driven a quarter of a mile 
away, or the black snake has sought shelter in a near-by 
hole. That the old birds return year after year to their 
former home and nesting site, is clearly proven hy two 
pair of birds on my own place, one nesting in a dogwood 
