LANIAD^E. 139 



" The King-bird is altogether destitute of song-, having only the shrill twitter 

 above mentioned. His usual mode of flight is singular : the vibrations of his broad 

 wings, as he moves slowly over the fields, resemble those of a hawk hovering and 

 settling in the air to reconnoitre the ground below ; and the object of the King- 

 bird is no doubt something similar ; viz., to look out for passing insects, either in 

 the air, or among the flowers and blossoms below him. In fields of pasture, he 

 often takes his stand, on the tops of the mullein and other rank weeds, near the 

 cattle, and makes occasional sweeps after passing insects, particularly the large 

 black gad-fly, so terrifying to horses and cattle. His eye moves restlessly around 

 him, traces the flight of an insect for a moment or two, then that of a second, and 

 even a third, until he perceives one to his liking, when, with a shrill sweep, he 

 pursues, seizes it, and returns to the same spot to look out for more. This habit 

 is so conspicuous when he is watching the bee-hive, that several intelligent farmers 

 of my acquaintance are of opinion, that he picks out only the drones, and never 

 injures the working bees. Be this as it may, he certainly gives a preference to 

 one bee, and one species of insect, over another. He hovers over the river, 

 sometimes for a considerable time, darting after insects that frequent such places, 

 snatching them from the surface of the water, and diving about in the air like a 

 swallow, for he possesses at will great power of wing. Numbers of them are 

 frequently seen thus engaged for hours together, over the rivers Delaware and 

 Schuylkill, in a calm day, particularly towards evening. He bathes himself by 

 diving repeatedly into the water from the overhanging branches of some tree, 

 where he sits to dry and dress his plumage *." — (Wilson, /. c.) The King-bird 

 preys chiefly on winged insects, and feeds also on berries of various kinds. — R. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed at Carlton-house, May, 1827- 



Colour of the upper aspect of the head, when the plumage is smooth, shining velvet- 

 black ; but when the feathers are ruffled, a spot of bright orpiment-orange appears on the 

 crown. The dorsal aspect, in general, is blackish-grey ; the rump feathers and tail coverts 

 being slightly edged with white. The tail is pitch-black, tipped with white a quarter of an 

 inch broad. The quill feathers and greater coverts are hair-brown ; the secondaries edged 

 and tipped with white. The under plumage is pure white, except the breast, which is tinged 

 with ash-grey ; and the wing linings, which are pale greyish-brown. Bill, above and below, 

 pitch-black. Legs bluish-black. 



* The whole of this passage is most important and interesting. It appears to me, however, much more probable 

 that this species, like the Tyrannus crudelis already noticed (p. 137), dives after small fish, or aquatic insects, and 

 thus typifies the analogy of this family to the King-fishers among the Fissirostres, and to the Natatores. — Sw . 



T 2 



