Plate VI. 
TYRANNUS CAROLINENSIS-Kingbird. 
The Beebircl, as this species is commonly called, arrives in Ohio the last of April; nest-building 
begins the third week in May, or may be delayed by unfavorable weather until the first of June. Two 
broods are frequently raised during the season. 
LOCALITY - : 
The nests may be found in suitable localities throughout the entire state. Old apple and pear trees, 
both in town and country, and other trees standing alone or in detached clumps in open districts, 
furnish desirable and noticeable situations, while woodlands are avoided. 
But, notwithstanding! this very general distribution, the Kingbird seems to display a natural 
penchant for well watered regions. Isolated sycamores and elms in low lands, or in the neighborhood 
of streams, being especially frequented and typical sites. 
POSITION - : 
The nest is placed either in a horizontal or perpendicular fork, or, partly saddled upon a limb, is 
held firmly by small branches which grow from about the principal point of support. Its distance from 
the ground is from three to forty feet, usually not lower than eight or higher than twenty feet. 
MATERIALS : 
The materials of construction are numerous, and vary somewhat with locality and position. The 
foundation and superstructure generally consist of any rubbish at hand, such as dried grasses, weed 
stems and fibres, sticks, rootlets, bits of vegetable down and wool, firmly matted together, forming a 
rough or even slouehy exterior; and coated inside with plaster composed of rotten wood and decayed 
vegetable material, finely ground together, and firmly pressed against the walls within half an inch of 
the rim; when dry, it crumbles into powder on the slightest pressure. 
The lining is formed of slender grasses, chicken feathers, horse hairs, fibres, rootlets, and wool, used 
singly or combined in various proportions. It is by no means rare to find a nest made up of flaxen 
fibres and grasses, and lined with dark brown or blackish rootlets. But of all the different materials 
used in construction, feathers, black horse hairs, round grasses, and plaster, are, according to our obser- 
vation, the most constant. Ornamentation is sometimes a prominent feature ; any substance which seems 
to strike the bird’s fancy, and is accessible, is used — such as wool, feathers, or corn silk. 
The inside depth is from one and one-eighth, to one and five-eighths, inches ; the inside diameter 
rarely varies half an inch from three inches; the outside diameter at the rim is from four to five 
inches ; an average of five specimens is four inches. 
EGGS: 
The complement of eggs is from four to six; the ground color is creamy white, dotted and blotched 
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