THE KINGBIRD. 11 



ORTHOPTERA (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.). 



Syrbula acuticornis 1 



Melanoplusfemur-rubrum 1 



Melanoplus sp 1 



Chortophaga viridifasciata 1 



Tettigidea lateralis 1 



Gryllus sp 9 



NEUROPTERA 

 Mantispa brunnea 3 | Mantispa sp . 



Vegetable food. — The vegetable food consists of small fruit, or 

 berries, and a few seeds. The total percentage, 3.88, indicates that 

 this is not the favorite kind of food, but is taken for variety. 



Summary. — It needs but little study of the food of the scissor- 

 tailed flycatcher to show that where the bird is abundant it is of 

 much economic value. Its food consists almost entirely of insects, 

 including so few useful species that they may be safely .disregarded. 

 Its consumption of grasshoppers is alone sufficient to entitle this 

 bird to complete protection. 



THE KINGBIRD. 



{Tyrannus tyrannus.) 



The kingbird (frontispiece), sometimes known as the bee martin, 

 inhabits nearly the whole of the United States and extends north far 

 into British America. It is much less abundant in the southwestern 

 part of the country, having never been taken in Arizona and rarely 

 in California. In winter it passes beyond the southern boundary 

 of the United States. It is one of the largest of our flycatchers and 

 probably the most common one east of the Rocky Mountains. 



The favorite haunts of the kingbird are orchards and open pastures, 

 and it will often nest in the near vicinity of farm buildings. Many 

 cases are on record where chickens and other poultry have been 

 saved from hawks by the timely interference of kingbirds that were 

 nesting near by. This habit of the bird was noted by observers more 

 than two centuries ago. Thus we find in Josselyn's Voyages to New 

 England (published in 1675, p. 96) the following account: 



"There is a small Ash-color Bird * * * that falleth upon 

 Crows, mounting up into the air after them, and will beat them till 

 they make them cry." 



The kingbird seems to be by nature very pugnacious and noisy, 

 and when it nests in orchards in the vicinity of robins, a constant 

 warfare is kept up between the two species. While the plumage of 

 this bird is not conspicuously colored, it has upon its head a con- 

 cealed crown patch of brilliant orange or scarlet which can be brought 

 into view by the erection of the coronal feathers. 



In the investigation of the food of the kingbird 665 stomachs were 

 examined. They were taken in the months from March to October, 



