220 
TYRANT FLYCATCHER, OR KING BIRD. 
The nest is very often built in the orchard, on the horizontal 
branch of an apple tree ; frequently also, as Catesby observes, 
on a sassafras tree, at no great height from the ground. The 
outside consists of small slender twigs, tops of withered flowers 
of the plant yarrow, and others, well wove together with tow 
and wool ; and is made large, and remarkably firm and compact. 
It is usually lined with fine dry fibrous grass, and horse hair. 
The eggs are five, of a very pale cream colour, or dull white, 
marked with a few large spots of deep purple, and other 
smaller ones of light brown, chiefly, though not altogether, 
towards the great end, (see fig. I.) They generally build 
twice in the season. 
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 gadfly, 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 again, 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 
