The Western Kingbird 
Incubation is accomplished in twelve or 
thirteen days, and the youngsters fly in 
a matter of two weeks. 
These Kingbirds are model parents, 
good neighbors, and, if one can stand their 
noise, good “citizens.” Exception must be 
made of the courting season, when the 
feelings of the gentlest are likely to be 
ruffled. Kingbirds are hotspurs here, 
a* and they dearly love a scrimmage. 
When a row starts, neighbors hasten 
to the fray, and from the hubbub 
which ensues one might think the tragedy 
of the Kilkenny Cats was being enacted in 
midair. But there are no bones broken, 
and not many feathers shed, and the neigh¬ 
bors come home chuckling. It was a good 
fight! 
When these little differences of amorous 
opinion are settled, the Kingbirds get on 
splendidly, even with their own kind. Where cover is rare two or more 
pairs will nest in the same tree without strife; and the excellent relations 
which exist between T. verticalis and T. vociferans are notorious. It is 
only in the presence of enemies, real enemies, that Western’s fighting 
blood is aroused. Hawks and crows and snooping Jays are set upon and 
punished relentlessly. My son William saw a Kingbird chase a Red- 
bellied Hawk and actually settle upon his back for the space of ten 
seconds. What the poor buzzard was suffering all that time from the 
tyrant’s beak and claws we can only guess. And once I saw a Western 
Kingbird set upon a pair of Yellow-billed Magpies and punish them 
unmercifully, and that in spite of the fact that the Pies did some very 
creditable team-work. They were no cowards and when they were 
beaten they fairly ached with anger. 
Smaller birds flock to the segis of this valiant defender; and in regions 
where they nest in trees, as on the oak-clad hills of San Benito County, 
it is rare to find an instance where Linnets or Goldfinches or Nuthatches 
have not availed themselves of the able protection afforded. In the 
northern section Bullock Orioles are grateful debtors to the Kingbird’s 
prowess; and Bendire narrates an instance where a pair of Swainson 
Hawks—most harmless of birds—lived on pleasant terms with the 
Western Kingbirds in the same tree. 
As a husband and father the Western Kingbird leaves little to desire. 
856 
Photo by 
Donald R. Dickey 
Taken 
in the 
Ojai 
THE CROWN PRINCE 
