FLYCATCHERS 
249 
Assiniboia and British Columbia south through Lower California; migrates 
through western Mexico to Guatemala. 
Nest. —In bushes or trees usually not far from the ground, made of 
twigs, weed stems, plant fibers, rootlets, wool, cocoons, hair, feathers, 
string, thistle down, and paper. Eggs: usually 4, similar to those of Tyran- 
nus tyrannus. 
Food. — Mainly grasshoppers, with moths, butterflies, flies, winged ants, 
caterpillars, and large black crickets. 
The Arkansas kingbird is a masterful, positive character, and when 
you come into his neighborhood you are very likely to know it, for 
he seems to be always screaming and scrimmaging. If he is not over¬ 
head twisting and turning with wings open and square tail spread 
so wide that it shows the white lines that border it, he is climbing 
up the air claw to claw with a rival, falling to ground clinched with 
him, or dashing after a hawk, screaming in thin falsetto like a scis- 
sor-tail flycatcher. A passing enemy is allowed no time to loiter 
but driven from the field with impetuous onslaught and clang of 
trumpets. Be he crow, hawk, or owl, he is escorted to a safe dis¬ 
tance, sometimes actually ridden by the angry kingbird, who, like 
the scissor-tail, enforces his screams with sharp pecks on the back. 
When there is no one within scrapping distance he may be seen 
perching on a meadow fence or telegraph wire, for he is a bird of 
the open country. When perched he is on the lookout for insects, 
and dashes out for one to soar back on outspread wings and tail, 
shrieking triumphantly as he comes. His notes have the thin high 
pitch and something of the emphasis and iteration of the coyote. 
448. Tyrannus vociferans Swains. Cassin Kingbird. 
Adults. — Upper parts and breast dark gray, chin abruptly white; belly 
lemon yellow; tail dull black indistinctly 
tipped with grayish, outer web of outer feather 
indistinctly edged with grayish; wing with tips 
of longest primaries abruptly cut out; crown with 
concealed red patch. Young: duller, wing 
coverts edged with rusty, crown patch wanting. 
Length: 8.75-9.00, wing 5.00-5.40, tail 3.70- 
4.20, bill from nostril .55-60. 
Distribution. — Breeds irregularly in Transition, but chiefly in Upper 
and Lower Sonoran zones from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains 
to southern Wyoming, western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and from 
Oregon south to Lower California and the mountains bordering the Mexi¬ 
can tablelands ; straying south to Costa Rica. 
Nest. — Bulky, of similar materials to that of verticalis, placed generally 
20 to 40 feet from the ground, near the end of a horizontal limb in syca¬ 
more, cottonwood, or other tree. Eggs: 2 to 5, similar to those of Tyran¬ 
nus tyrannus. 
Food. — Mainly insects, including grasshoppers, locusts, and caterpillars. 
The Cassin kingbird, Major Bendire says, is neither as noisy nor as 
quarrelsome as the Arkansas. Though it nests in the valleys with 
Fig. 326. 
