The Cassin Kingbird 
The characteristic short note is a sort of plick, uttered with a good 
deal of energy and so much of variation that we hesitate to syllabize 
it—call it the cliup note. This is varied by berwick , a perfectly charac¬ 
teristic and definite utterance. Then for a call, or challenge note, the 
bird has a long vibrant roll or rattle; and this roll, rendered staccato 
with every degree of length and intensity, is used on every occasion of 
meeting, whether of friendly welcome to a mate, or of execration at sight 
of a rival. Its utterance shows the owner to be an emotional and highly 
excitable bird. Call him an alarmist, Sir Clackchops, and general 
busybody, if you will. He is nevertheless a very good fellow, beloved, 
as I say, of all but invalids and cynics. 
No. 166 
Cassin Kingbird 
A. 0 . U. No. 448. Tyrannus vociferans Swainson. 
Description. —Adult male: Head and neck above and on sides dark ashy gray 
(neutral gray); a partially concealed crown-patch orange-red, or scarlet; space about 
eye and auriculars darker, nearly black; sides of neck shading into lighter ashy gray 
(light neutral gray) of breast; chin and upper throat, including malar area, definitely 
white; ashy of breast shading broadly “on lower breast” into pure yellow (empire 
yellow) of remaining underparts; back, scapulars, and rump ashy gray (light neutral 
gray) washed with olive-green (yellowish oil green), shading to black of upper tail- 
coverts and tail; tip of tail and outer webs of lateral rectrices much paler, but never 
white; wings fuscous with much paler edging; first five primaries sharply and decreas- 
ingly but not extensively emarginate on the inner web; the tip of the wing formed by 
the third primary, closely supported by the second and fourth. Bill and feet black¬ 
ish. Adult female: Like male, but crown-patch reduced and primaries scarcely or 
not conspicuously emarginate. Young birds are paler, have no crown-patch, and are 
without suggestion of emargination on wings. Length (skin) 208 (8.19); wing 132.7 
(5.22); tail 93.1 (3.66); bill 9.7 (.38); tarsus 9.2 (.36). 
Recognition Marks. —Towhee size; ashy gray and yellow coloration; throat 
white, contrasting with gray; and edge of tail not definitely white, as contrasted with 
T. verticalis. 
Nesting. — Nest and Eggs individually indistinguishable from those of T. ver¬ 
ticalis. The eggs are perhaps slightly warmer, more pinkish in tone. Ay. of 80 
specimens in the collections of the Museum of Comparative Oology: 22.8 x 17.5 
(.90 x .69). Extremes 20.6-25.4 x 16.5-19.8 (.81-1.00 by .65-.78). Season: April- 
June; one or two broods. 
General Range. —Western North America. Breeds in Sonoran zones north 
to central California and southern Wyoming, east to eastern Colorado and western 
Texas, south to Michoacan. Winters from southern California and northern Mexico 
to Guatemala. Casual in northern California and in Oregon. 
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