188 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
neighbors. Whenever a hawk or crow is observed flying, even at a con¬ 
siderable distance, this little warrior immediately starts in pursuit, and 
by his rapid flight speedily overtakes the object of his wrath and utter¬ 
ing almost continually his sharp and rapid twitter, is seen to mount 
above his adversary and make repeated and violent assaults on the head 
of his flying victim, who, frequently, to escape further persecution, makes 
a precipitate retreat to a tree, bushes or the ground. The nest, a rather 
bulky and loosely made structure, is composed of grasses, weeds, roots, 
etc., and is built generally on the limb of an apple or pear tree in an or¬ 
chard ; sometimes, however, nests are placed in oak and other trees. It 
is built by the joint labor of both birds, who complete this work in about 
five days. The eggs, usually four or five in number, are creamy-white 
spotted conspicuously with different shades of brown and indistinct spots 
of bluish-gray. The eggs vary greatly in size; a large one measures an 
inch in length and three-fourths of an inch in width. The period of incuba¬ 
tion is about fourteen days. From his favorite perch either on a stake, 
the top of a tree or a high weed in the field, the Kingbird watches for 
his insect prey; at other times he is observed flying over a field in a 
manner similar to that of the Sparrow Hawk, watching for grasshoppers, 
crickets or other insects. As Wilson observes, he sometimes hovers over 
a river or pond, darting after insects that frequent such places, snatch¬ 
ing them from the surface of the water, and diving about in the air like 
a swallow. Some few years ago I saw a Kingbird dart down to the 
water in a shallow pond and fly off with a shining object in his bill, that 
at the time I thought appeared like a small fish, but never having seen 
or heard of this species feeding on fishes, but little notice was taken of 
the bird, which flew to a tree some two hundred yards distant. From 
an article published in the Forest and Stream, September 2, 1882, and 
written by Milton P. Peirce, it appears that Kingbirds sometimes feed 
on fishes. Mr. Peirce writes: “ These birds are very abundant about 
my premises, nesting in some cases within a few feet of my residence. 
* * * I have often noticed them striking the surface of the water 
in my fish ponds, but supposed they were either taking a bath or else 
catching insects which were flying near the surface of the water. When 
I constructed my bass pond, a few years age, I stocked it with minnows 
to afford ample food for the bass. At times the entire surface of the 
pond seems alive with them. A few days ago I observed at least a half 
dozen Kingbirds perched on trees and bushes, near the margin of the 
pond, and almost every moment some of them would dive into the water 
precisely like a Kingfisher, and I concluded they were catching bugs or 
other insects, which were floating upon the surface of the water. Watch¬ 
ing them closely, I soon saw one of them leave the water with something 
preceptibly shining in its bill. It alighted on a tree about fifty yards 
from where I was sitting, and acted precisely as a Kingfisher does when 
killing a fish. Taking a telescope, I took an observation and discovered 
