ARKANSAS KINGBIRD. 343 



On May 28, 1885, Mr. Arthur T. Wayne found a nest of this species near Fort 

 Moultrie, Sullivan's Island, S. C. It was built in a silver-leaf poplar, only a few feet 

 from a dwelling house. On May 30, 1894, Mr. Wayne succeeded in finding another 

 nest in the same locality. It w^as built in the top of a small live oak about twenty 

 feet high. The frail structure was composed of sticks, jasmine vines, and was lined 

 apparently with oleander roots. One article in its composition which is quite curious was 

 a long piece of fishing cord. The nest contained two eggs. All specimens observed in- 

 South Carolina were found on this famous island — a favorite summer resort for the 

 people of Charleston. 



This is the Gray Petchary described so vividly in Mr. Philipp Gosse's "Birds of 

 Jamaica." In the West Indies it seems to have a predilection for large palms near dwellings. 

 Probably it will become more abundant in the gardens of Florida, when the many palms 

 planted for ornament have attained larger size. In all its habits it closely resembles the 

 common Kingbird. 



DESCRIPTION: The upper parts of this Kingbird, including the top of the head, plumlieous-gray ; wing- 

 coverts and upper tail-coverts without rusty or buffy margins. 



ARKANSAS KINGBIRD. 



Tyrannus verticalis Say. 



According to the observations of Mrs. Sophia Zimmermann, this Kingbird is the 

 exact counterpart of the eastern species, w^hich it represents in California. It is a very 

 common inhabitant of orchards and ornamental plantations, and is as familiar in that 

 State as is the common Kingbird in the East. Its notes are more varied and noisy, 

 the bird uttering them almost constantly when flying and fighting. 



Prof. R. Ridgway narrates that these Kingbirds are among the most common and 

 familiar birds of the Sacramento valley and the fertile portions of the Great Basin. They 

 show an excessively quarrelsome disposition, w^hich far exceeds that of the eastern species, 

 for fighting among themselves seems to be their chief amusement. Half a dozen of these 

 birds were sometimes noticed pitching at one another promiscuously, in their playful 

 combats ; and when a nest was disturbed, the cries of the parents invariably brought 

 to the vicinity all the birds of this species in the neighborhood, which, as soon as 

 gathered together, began their aerial battles by attacking each other apparently without 

 regard to individuals, accompanying the fight by a shrill twitter, very different from 

 the loud rattling notes of the Eastern Kingbird. The nesting habits, the construction 

 of the nest, and appearance of eggs, are, however, almost perfectly identical. 



DESCRIPTION: Head, neck, and breast, light ashy-gray, paler on chin and throat; wings, dusky, with 

 indistinct paler border; tail, deep black. 



Cassin's Kingbird, Tyrannus vociferans Swains., inhabits Mexico, being common 

 north to Los Angeles, Cal. According to Dr. Elliott Coucs it is an abundant summer 

 resident in Arizona, having also been found on the Pecos, in Texas. It is said to be 

 a constant resident in southern California as far north as Los Angeles, and to be more 

 noisj' than its congenei's. It does not differ materially in habits and nesting from the 



