20 FOOD OF THE FLYCATCHEES. 



of the open country and avoids forests. A hilly country with here 

 and there trees for nesting sites seems to be the ideal habitat. It 

 takes kindly to civilization and the vicinity of gardens and buildings. 

 Not rarely it nests in trees on the village streets and in some cases 

 actually places its nest upon the structures of man; but in general 

 it is less domestic than its eastern relative, whose nest is so often 

 built in an orchard. It does not seem to have that antipathy to 

 hawks and other birds so characteristic of the eastern kingbird, and a 

 case is on record where it has built its nest on the same tree with a 

 hawk and a Bullock's oriole. 1 



For the investigation of the food of the Arkansas kingbird 

 109 stomachs were available. They were collected in the months 

 of March to October, inclusive, with 3 taken in December. The 

 greater number of them are from California, but a few were collected 

 in 6 other States. The food is found to consist of 90.61 per cent of 

 animal matter to 9.39 per cent of vegetable. Of the animal portion, 

 Hymenoptera (bees and wasps), Coleoptera (beetles), and Orthoptera 

 (grasshoppers) constitute over three-fourths. 



Animal food. — Beetles of all kinds amount to 17.02 per cent of the 

 food, and include 5.47 per cent of useful species, mostly Carabidae 

 and Cicindelidse. For a flycatcher this is a large record of these 

 useful beetles, as they are largely ground-inhabiting species and not 

 so often on the wing as most others. The remainder, 11.55 per cent, 

 are either harmful or neutral. No special pests were found among 

 them. Hymenoptera (bees and wasps) are the largest item of animal 

 food and amount to 31.38 per cent. They form a good percentage 

 of the food in every month except August, when they are partly 

 replaced by grasshoppers. A few of the parasitic species were found, 

 but not many. Honeybees (Apis mellifera) were noted in 5 stomachs. 

 In all, there were 31 bees, of which 29 were males, or drones, and 2 

 were workers. This bird has been accused in California of eating 

 honeybees to an injurious extent. It was said that the bird lingered 

 near the hive and snapped up the honey-ladened bees as they returned 

 from the field. This statement is not borne out by the facts stated 

 above. 



Hemiptera (bugs) are a small but rather regular constituent of 

 the food of the Arkansas kingbird and were found in the stomachs 

 of every month except October. March appears to be the month 

 of maximum consumption, 19 per cent, but tins can not be taken 

 as proved, for only 3 stomachs were taken in that month. June, 

 with 9.86 per cent from 28 stomaclis, is more likely to be the month 

 of true maximum. They belong to the stinkbug family, the leaf 

 bugs (Capsida?), and the shield-backs (Scutelleridse), with a few 

 cicadas. Altogether bugs amount to 5.36 per cent of the food. 



• Bendlre, C E., Life Histories of North American Birds, I, p. 246, 1892. 



