Kingbird

“ On his crown is an orange-red patch, but you will probably never see it unless you have the bird in your hand and brush apart the feathers in search of it.
The kingbird’s Latin name has much the same meaning as his common English one. Tyrannus tyrannus he is called by scientific people. He belongs to a family known as flycatchers, birds that catch insects on the wing. That is the reason why the kingbird likes a perch at the tip of something, so that he can dart out after a passing insect, catch it, and return to his perch to wait for another. ”

“ The exquisite of the family, and the braggart of the orchard, is the kingbird, a bully that loves to strip the feathers off its more timid neighbors such as the bluebird, that feeds on the stingless bees of the hive, the drones, and earns the reputation of great boldness by teasing large hawks, while it gives a wide berth to little ones. ”

“ But the real secret of Kingbird’s attachment for mankind is not discovered until we see his nest. It is our strings which have won his heart. Whatever else the nest may or may not contain, it is sure to have string,—string in strands, string in coils, string in bunches, hanks, and tangles, drug store string of a dissipated crimson hue, white string that came around the sugar, greasy string that you had tied around your finger to remind you to feed the chickens, string of every length and size and use and hue. ”

“ For example, “Kingbird” is a success; is short, is of familiar elements, and describes the bird’s character. Every farm boy in its region knows the Kingbird, and by that name, except in a few localities where the rival name ‘Bee-martin’ still fogs the issue.
If we pretend that the name of that species is “Tyrant Flycatcher,” as our scientists once insisted, our popular knowledge of the bird would disappear and with that all popular interest in it. ”

“ The Kingbird, in particular, the head of the house, is noted for his constant attacks on any winged creature that approaches his nest. It must be admitted, however, that when nesting time is over, he lives very peaceably with his neighbors; but while the female is brooding the eggs or young, the excited cry of the male is constantly heard, and every Crow that comes in sight is pursued, sometimes for a mile. The Kingbird gets above his victim and darts down at its head; the Crow can be seen wincing at each vicious jab of the bill. ”

“ The kingbird is plentifully endowed not only with spirit, but with spirits. A goldfinch sang and twittered in the softest voice, and a catbird mewed. From a quince bush, a little farther off, a wild bobolinkian strain was repeated again and again,—an orchard oriole, I thought most likely. I went nearer (to the shade of a low cedar) , and soon had him in sight,—a young male in yellow plumage, with a black throat-patch. ”

“ Their three little heads, growing darker every day, bobbed this way and that; they changed places in the nest; they thrust out small wings; above all and through all, they violently preened themselves. In fact, this elaborate dressing of feathers was their constant business for so long a time that I thought it no wonder the grown-up kingbird pays little attention to his dress; he does enough pluming in the nursery to last a lifetime. ”

“ I have seen the male kingbird come to his nesting bough with feathers drenched from his mid-day bath in the river, the orioles flash their brilliant colors all day long before the eye, and chestnut-sided warblers become so tame after several days that the female would allow you to approach and stroke her back with the hand. ”

“ One or two ornithologists declare that he selects only the drones fur his diet, which would give him credit for marvellous sight in his rapid motion through the air. The kingbird is preeminently a bird of the garden and orchard. The nest is open, though deep, and not carefully concealed. Eggs are nearly round, bluish white spotted with brown and lilac. ”

“ It is easily possible, however, to exaggerate the pugnacity of the Kingbird, or to infer from extreme examples that all are quarrelsome. It is not unusual for Kingbirds to be on the best of terms with their immediate neighbors, thieves always excepted. I once found in one small aspen tree at Chelan the nests of three birds each containing eggs, viz., a Robin, an Oriole, and a Kingbird. ”

“ The frail Hummingbird has no real strength to fight enemies bigger than its tiny self, but it has been given for protection the power of flying as quick as a whizzing bullet, and courage enough to attack even a Kingbird in defence of its nest, which is a tiny circle of down, covered with lichens, and is so fastened across a branch that it looks like a knot of the limb itself. ”

“ These birds are said to be almost an exact counterpart of the Kingbird, exhibiting the same courage in defence of their nests. Their notes are more varied and noisy, and they utter them almost constantly during the spring, often when flying and fighting. They are very destructive to bees, but compensate for this damage by destroying great quantities of noxious insects. They leave the State in October. At Puget Sound, early in June, Dr. Cooper found this species associating with the common Kingbird without any signs of disagreement, though their similar habits would naturally lead to disputes. ”

“ A kingbird, or other flycatcher which chooses similar perches, would sail off suddenly into the air if a winged insect hove in sight, snap it up, make an aerial loop in its flight and return to its old place. Not so the solitary, sanguinary shrike. When his wonderfully keen eyes detect a grasshopper, a cricket, a big beetle, a lizard, a little mouse, or a sparrow at a distance in a field, he drops like an eagle upon the victim, seizes it with his strong beak, and flies with steady flapping strokes of the wings, close along the ground, straight to the nearest honey locust or spiny thorn ”

“ It is really a big, heavy kingbird, fiercer and more powerful than any northern kingbird. I saw them assail not only the big but the small hawks with fearlessness, driving them in headlong flight. They not only capture insects, but pounce on mice, small frogs, lizards, and little snakes, rob birds' nests of the fledgling young, and catch tadpoles and even small fish. ”

“ The Kingbird is a very satisfactory bird to beginners; the color pattern is so marked and the bird is so fond of exposed situations that it is seen and recognized without difficulty. Except the Cedarbird, whose tail is tipped with yellow, I know no other small bird of the eastern United States whose tail feathers are all tipped with a regular edge of light color. The Kingbird is the bird most commonly seen from a car window ”

“ It is not so prone to attack birds larger than itself as is the Kingbird, which Wilson characterizes as cowardice, but which it would be more charitable to call prudence. It is said to be harsh, cruel, and vindictive to smaller birds and to weaker individuals of its own species.
In its flight it moves with power, steadiness, and swiftness, and when in pursuit of insects follows its prey with great zeal and perseverance. When it captures a large insect, it retires to its perch and beats it against the limb. These birds are not in the least gregarious. ”

“ Occasionally, when the little victim shows pluck and faces his assailant, the kingbird will literally turn tail and show the white feather. His method of attack is always when a bird is in flight; then he swoops down from the telegraph pole or high point of vantage, and strikes on the head or back of the neck, darting back like a flash to the exact spot from which he started. ”

“ We greatly admired the plucky kingbird. In Scotland our great ambition was to be good fighters, and we admired this quality in the handsome little chattering flycatcher that whips all the other birds. He was particularly angry when plundering jays and hawks came near his home, and took pains to thrash them not only away from the nest-tree but out of the neighborhood. The nest was usually built on a bur oak near a meadow where insects were abundant, and where no undesirable visitor could approach without being discovered. ”

“ Few of our birds are better known throughout the United States than the Kingbird. Bold and fearless in character, yet tame and confiding in man, often preferring to live in close proximity to dwellings, in gardens 236 and orchards, they are prime favorites with the majority of our farming population, and they well deserve their fullest protection. Few birds are more useful to the farmer ”

“ The parents were very watchful of the young, and were seen to drive away such birds as the cowbird, blue jay, wren, chickadee, brown thrasher, kingbird and blackbird, if they came too near the nest; the only bird that was not driven away was a catbird. ”

“ Smaller, but not a whit less active than the Kingbird is the Phoebe or Water Pewee—the small Flycatcher who is almost as familiar about the farm and roadside as the Robin himself. Look about the woodshed or cow-shed. Is there a beam or little nook of any sort that will hold a nest? If so, in early May you will see a pair of nervous brown birds, heaping up a mound of moss and mud. When they have made it large enough to suit them, they line it with soft grass and horsehairs; the nest is then ready for the white eggs, which once in a while are varied with a few brown spots. ”

“ The Kingbird is not quarrelsome—simply very lively. He is the very picture of dash and daring in defending his home, and when he is teaching his youngsters how to fly. He is one of the best of neighbors, and a brave soldier. ”

“ The Crested Flycatcher lives in eastern North America; breeds from southern Canada to Florida, and winters in Mexico and northern South America. He is a common summer resident of the Middle and Southern States especially. Though louder-voiced than his relatives, the kingbird, phœbe, and wood pewee, he is not so well known because he is shyer. He is not so pugnacious as the kingbird, but he is known to fight fiercely for a mate. ”

“ The farmer could have no better protection for his corn fields than the near-by nest of a pair of kingbirds. They eat some honeybees, but for every bee thus taken they destroy ten noxious insects. They can be easily frightened away from the vicinity of the hives without being killed.
The kingbird's nest is made of slender twigs, weed stalks, and grasses, and is placed among the branches of trees, fifteen to twenty-five feet from the ground. There are usually four or five eggs, white, spotted with brown. They have generally two broods a year. ”

“ Another inhabitant of the grove not easily overlooked, is the bold Kingbird, the guardian of the barnyard, its nest saddled on a rather strong moss-covered limb of another Oak. I could mention a number of other birds that build their nests near the dwellings of man, but space will not permit me to do so. I will add, however, that if my readers would have about them these beautiful and useful birds, which are almost the best friends of mankind, don't allow English Sparrows to come near your home, and you will soon find yourself in the midst of the songsters. ”

“ He never makes a fair hand-to-hand fight, or whatever is equivalent in bird warfare. It is a satisfaction to record that he does not attempt to give battle to the catbird, but whenever in view makes a grand detour to give him a wide berth.
The kingbird feeds on beetles, canker-worms, and winged insects, with an occasional dessert of berries. ”

“ They are the least attractive or elegant birds of our fields or forests. Sharp-shouldered, big-headed, short-legged, of no particular color, of little elegance in flight or movement, with a disagreeable flirt of the tail, always quarreling with their neighbors and with one another, no birds are so little calculated to excite pleasurable emotions in the beholder, or to become objects of human interest and affection. The kingbird is the best dressed member of the family, but he is a braggart ”

“ I have never, or very rarely, known it to molest or attack any other birds than those which its own instinct prompts it to drive away in self-defence, such as Hawks, Owls, Eagles, Crows, Jays, Cuckoos, and Grakles. These it will always attack and drive off to quite a distance from their nests. Nothing can be more striking than the intrepidity with which one of these birds will pounce upon and harass birds vastly larger and more powerful than itself. The Kingbird is always prompt to perceive the approach of one of these enemies, and always rushes out to meet it. ”

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the crested flycatcher: is the largest of the family; builds in holes; distinguished by its use of cast-off snake-skins in its nests.
kingbird: Everybody knows him, for it is usually he who chases the marauding crows; he builds, out in the apple tree if he can, a big, bulky nest with strings a-flying from it: also called “bee-martin,” a most useful bird.
wood pewee: builds on the limbs of forest trees a most beautiful nest, much like a hummingbird’s, only larger. ”

“ It is on this account one of our most useful birds, but, unfortunately for its popularity, it is no respecter of kinds, and destroys large numbers of bees. In districts where hives of honey-bees abound, the Kingbird is not in good repute. Wilson suggests that they only destroy the drones, and rarely, if ever, meddle with the working bees. ”