Genus XL. MUSCICAPA. FLYCATCHER. 
Species I. At. TYRANMTS. 
TYRANT FLYCATCHER, or KING-BIRD. 
[Plato XIII, Fig. 1.] 
Lanius Tyrannus, Linn. Syst. 136. — Lath. Syn. i., 1SG. — Catesb. i., 55. — LeTyran 
de la Caroline, Buff, iv., 577. PL Eid. 676. — Arct. Zool. p. 384, No. 263. 
This is the Field Martin of Maryland and some of the Southern 
States, and the King-bird of Pennsylvania and several of the northern 
districts. The epithet Tyrant, which is generally applied to him by 
naturalists, I am not altogether so well satisfied with ; some, however, 
may think the two terms pretty nearly synonymous. 
The trivial name King as well as Tyrant has been bestowed on this 
bird for its extraordinary behavior, and the authority it assumes over all 
others, during the time of breeding. At that season his extreme affec- 
tion for his mate, and for his nest and young, makes him suspicious of 
every bird that happens to pass near his residence, so that he attacks 
without discrimination, every intruder. In the months of May, June, 
and part of July, his life is one continued scene of broils and battles, 
in which, however, he generally comes off conqueror. Hawks and 
Crows, the Bald Eagle, and the Great Black Eagle, all equally dread a 
rencontre with this dauntless little champion, who, as soon as he per- 
ceives one of these last approaching, launches into the air to meet him, 
mounts to a considerable height above him, and darts down on his back, 
sometimes fixing there to the great annoyance of his sovereign, who, if 
no convenient retreat or resting place be near, endeavors by various 
evolutions to rid himself of his merciless adversary. But the King-bird 
is not so easily dismounted. He teases the Eagle incessantly, sweeps 
upon him from right and left, remounts, that he may descend on his 
back with the greater violence ; all the while keeping up a shrill and 
rapid twittering : and continuing the attack sometimes for more than a 
mile, till he is relieved by some other of his tribe equally eager for the 
contest. 
There is one bird, however, which by its superior rapidity of flight, is 
sometimes more than a match for him ; and I have several times wit- 
nessed his precipitate retreat before this active antagonist. This is the 
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