Hab. Eastern North America to Rocky Mountains. Occasional in various parts of the Western Province (Washington Territory, Salt Lake Valley, Truckee River, Nevada, etc.). South to Panama. Oaxaca, lowlands, March (Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, 302); Honduras (Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, 55); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis I, 120); Cuba (Cab. J. III, 476; Gundl. Rep. 1865, 239, “T. pipiri”); Panama, (Mus. S. I.; Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VII, 295); Greytown, Nic.? (Lawr. Ann. VIII, 183); East of San Antonio, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 472; breeds); Upper Amazon, Peru, Nauta (Scl. and Salv. P. Z. S. 1866, 189); Vera Cruz, hot region, resident (Sumichrast, M. B. S. I, 557).
The young of the year is similar; the colors duller, the concealed colored patch on the crown wanting. The tail more rounded; the primaries not attenuated.
Specimens vary in the amount of white margining the wing-feathers; the upper tail-coverts are also margined sometimes with white.
Habits. The common Kingbird or Bee Martin of North America is found throughout the continent, from Texas and Florida, on the south, as far to the north as the 57th parallel of north latitude. Westward, north of the 44th parallel, it is found from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but south of this it has not been found west of the Rocky Mountains. It is included by Dr. Cooper among the birds of California, but I am not aware that it has ever been taken within the limits of that State. Mr. Allen regards the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains its extreme western limit; but Mr. Ridgway states that this species was met with by him in various portions of the Great Basin, though always in less abundance than the T. verticalis. Among the cottonwoods of the Truckee Valley, in Western Nevada, two or three pairs were seen in July and August. In the fertile Salt Lake Valley it was nearly or quite as common as the T. verticalis, and was also met with in the fertile “parks” of the Wahsatch Mountains.
This species not only has this widely extended area, but is also quite abundant wherever found. It is apparently as abundant throughout Nova Scotia as it is in the State of Florida. Richardson even found it common on the banks of the Saskatchewan, where he traced its northern migrations beyond the 57th parallel of latitude. It was found at the Carlton House early in May, and retired southward in September. It winters in Central and South America, and has been received by Mr. Lawrence from Panama.
Dr. Suckley found this species quite plentiful at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, in Washington Territory, and more sparingly at Puget Sound, where he obtained several specimens. They appeared to shun the dense forests near Puget Sound, but were moderately plentiful in the groves of low oaks, and among the cottonwood-trees fringing the lakes on Nisqually Plains, where, August 5, he obtained a nest with newly fledged young.
Mr. Joseph Leyland found this species near Omoa, in Honduras, migratory. They came in flocks of two or three hundred, but remained only a short time before departing farther south. They flew high, and seemed very wild. This species was also met with, in May, at Playa Vicente, in the low lands of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard, and during the winter months is found throughout Mexico.
No one of our common birds possesses more strongly marked characteristics of manners and habits than this species. Its pugnacious disposition during the breeding-season, the audacious boldness with which it will attack any birds larger than itself, the persistent tenacity with which it will continue these attacks, and the reckless courage with which it will maintain its unequal warfare, are well-known peculiarities of this interesting and familiar species. Its name, Kingbird, is given it on the supposition that it is superior to all other birds in these contests. My own observations lead me to the conclusion that writers have somewhat exaggerated the quarrelsome disposition of this bird. 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. Mounting in the air high above, it pounces down upon its back, upon which it will even rest, furiously pecking at the exposed flanks of its victim, and only leaving it to descend again and again with the same unrelenting animosity. In these encounters it always comes off conqueror.
Wilson states that his jealous affection for his mate and for his nest and young makes him suspicious of every bird that happens to pass near his residence. But this is not the case in all instances. A pair of these birds nested, in the summer of 1871, and peacefully reared their young, in an apple-tree near my residence, within four feet of the nest of the Baltimore Oriole, and not more than eight or ten feet from the nest of a Robin, all in the same tree. The three pairs were on evident terms of amity and mutual good-will. The male Kingbird kept a sharp lookout for danger from the topmost bough, and seemed to have all under his special guardianship, but showed no disposition to molest or annoy them.
The Purple Martin is said to be the implacable enemy of the Kingbird, and one of the few birds with which the latter maintains an unequal contest. Its superiority in flight gives the former great advantages, while its equal courage and strength render it more than a match. Audubon relates an instance in which the Kingbird was slain in one of these struggles.
Wilson also narrates an encounter, of which he was an eyewitness, between one of this species and a Red-headed Woodpecker, in which the latter, while clinging on the rail of a fence, seemed to amuse itself with the violence of the Kingbird, playing bo-peep with it round the rail, while the latter became greatly irritated, and made repeated but vain attempts to strike at him.
The Kingbird feeds almost exclusively upon winged insects, and consumes a vast number. 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. But this discrimination, even if real, is not appreciated by the raisers of bees, who regard this bird as their enemy.
The Kingbirds arrive in Pennsylvania the latter part of April, and in New England early in May, and leave for the South in September. They nest in May, selecting an upper branch, usually of an isolated tree, and often in an exposed situation. Their nests are large, broad, and comparatively shallow, and coarsely, though strongly, made of rude materials, such as twigs, withered plants, bits of rags, strings, etc. These are lined with fine rootlets, horse-hair, and fine grasses.
The Kingbird has no song, but, instead, utters an incessant monotonous succession of twitterings, which vary in sharpness and loudness with the emotions that prompt them.
The flight of the Kingbird when on the hunt for insects is peculiar and characteristic. It flies slowly over the field, with rapid vibrations of the wings, in the manner of Hawks, and soars or seems to float in the air in a manner equally similar. At other times it flies with great rapidity, and dives about in the air in the manner of a Swallow. It also exhibits great power and rapidity of flight when rushing forth to encounter a Hawk or an Eagle.
As they are known occasionally to plunge into the water, and, emerging thence, to resume their seat on a high branch, to dry and dress their plumage, it has been conjectured that they feed on small fish, but this is unsupported by any positive evidence.
Though the Kingbird usually builds in trees, it does not always select such situations. In the summer of 1851, passing over a bridge near the village of Aylesford, in Nova Scotia, I observed a Kingbird fly from a nest built on the projecting end of one of the planks of which the bridge was made. So remarkably exposed a position, open to view, and on a level with and within a few feet of a highway, must be quite unusual.
The eggs of this bird are five, sometimes six, in number, and vary considerably in size. Their ground-color is white with a more or less decided roseate tinge, beautifully spotted with blotches and markings of purple, brown, and red-brown. In some, these are disposed in a confluent crown around the larger end; in others they are irregularly distributed over the entire egg. In length they vary from 1.05 to .86 of an inch, and in breadth from .72 to .70 of an inch.
Tyrannus dominicensis, Rich
GRAY KINGBIRD
Tyrannus dominicensis, Brisson, Ois. II, 1760, 394, pl. xxxviii. fig. 2.—Rich. List, 1837.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 172. Lanius tyrannus, var. β, dominicensis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 302. Muscicapa dominicensis, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 392, pl. xlvi.—Ib. Birds Am. I, 1840, 201, pl. lv. Melittarchus dominicensis, Cabanis, Journal für Ornith. III, Nov. 1855, 478. Tyrannus griseus, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 76, pl. xlvi.—Swainson, Mon. Shrikes, Quart. Jour. XX, 1826, 276.—Bp. Consp. 1850, 192 (Bonaparte makes two species).—Scl. List, 1862, 236. Tyrannus matutinus, Vieill. De La Sagra pl. xiv.
Sp. Char. Bill very large and stout. Tail conspicuously forked. Wings long; the first six quills attenuated abruptly, much longer than the seventh. Tertials much developed, nearly intermediate in length between the longest primaries and the shortest secondary. Above, and on the sides of the head and neck, ash-gray, shaded in places with brown, which forms the middle portion of each feather. Downy portion at the base of each feather above light ash, then light brown, tipped and edged with darker ash-gray. The mottled appearance is caused by the brown showing from under the feathers; the ear-coverts darker. A concealed colored patch on the crown, formed by the base of the feathers, white before and behind, orange in the middle. Lower parts grayish-white, tinged with ash across the breast, deepest anteriorly. Sides of the breast similar to, but lighter than, the back. Under wing-coverts and axillars pale sulphur-yellow. The wings brown, darker to the tips; the secondaries narrowly, the tertials more broadly, edged with dull white. Edges of the coverts paler. Alula dark brown. Tail similar in color to the quills. Upper tail-coverts brown. Bill and feet black. Length, 8.00; wing, 4.65; tail, 4.00; tarsus, .76.
Young. Lesser wing-coverts and upper tail-coverts distinctly bordered with pale ochraceous; tail-feathers bordered all round with a deeper shade of the same. No colored patch on the crown.
Hab. South Carolina coast, accidental; Florida Keys and West Indies; Nicaragua; New Granada; Santa Cruz (Newton, Ibis I, 146, eggs); Carthagena, N. G. (Cass. P. A. N. S. 1860, 143); Cuba (Cab. J. III, 478, breeds; Gundl. Rep. 1865, 238, “Mel. griseus”); Jamaica (Gosse, B. J. 169, breeds; March, P. A. N. S. 1863, 287); St. Thomas (Cass. P. A. N. S. 1860, 375); Sombrero (Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 1864, 99, “griseus”); Greytown, Nicar. (Lawr. Ann. 183); Sta. Bartholemy (Sund. 1869, 584); Massachusetts (Maynard, B. E. Mass. 1870, 124).
This species, though about the same size as the T. carolinensis, is much more powerfully built, the bill and feet being much stronger, the former considerably longer than the head, and as large as that of Saurophagus sulphuratus, though less compressed.
Specimens from Nicaragua and New Granada appear to be almost perfectly identical with those from Florida and the West Indies, differing only in being just appreciably smaller, which, however, might be expected from their more southern habitat.
Habits. The Gray Kingbird—the Pipiry Flycatcher of Audubon, or Gray Petchary of Jamaica—is, except in Florida, of scarcely more than occasional occurrence within the limits of the United States. A single specimen has been taken in Massachusetts. This was shot in Lynn, October 23, 1868, and was in immature plumage. The bird was shot on a tree near one of the streets of that city by Mr. Charles Goodall. Mr. Audubon also found these birds quite common on the Florida Keys, almost every Key, however small, having its pair. A pair was observed breeding in the college yard at Charleston, S. C., by Dr. Bachman; and for at least three years in succession they regularly returned each year, and raised two broods in a season. This Flycatcher is abundant in St. Croix, Cuba, Jamaica, and in the other West India Islands. In the first-named locality Mr. Alfred Newton found it one of the most conspicuous and commonest birds over the entire island. Its favorite station, he states, was the top of the spearlike unexpanded frond of a tall mountain-cabbage tree, from which place, in the breeding-season, it darted down to attack almost any animal that passed near. Its favorite object of attack was the Green Heron (Butorides virescens), at which it would make several well-directed swoops, never leaving it until it had driven it into some shelter, when, much pleased with its prowess, it would return to its lookout station and celebrate its victory with cries of triumph. On one occasion Mr. Newton observed a Gray Kingbird pursue a Green Heron out to sea for a quarter of a mile and back. It is described as a very clamorous bird, even when there is apparently no need; taking alarm from the domestic poultry, its oft-repeated notes were heard every morning before the dawn. This noise it continued pertinaciously till sundown. Its food consists of insects, which are caught with great dexterity on the wing. It also feeds very largely on the black berries of a myrtle-leaved parasite that grows abundantly on the orange-trees. The nest is often placed under the fronds or among the spathes of a cocoanut or mountain-cabbage tree, and sometimes in any ordinary situation. It is described as flat in construction and large for the size of the bird, being nearly a foot in diameter, composed of a platform of twigs, in the midst of which is hollowed a cup lined with fine roots. In St. Croix the eggs rarely exceeded three in number, and are spoken of as exceedingly beautiful when fresh, of a delicate creamy white, marked at the larger end with blotches and spots of pink or orange-brown, often disposed in a zone. He found their eggs from May till August.
Mr. Richard Hill, of Spanishtown, Jamaica, in some interesting notes furnished to Mr. Gosse, states that along the seaside savannas of that island migrant flocks of these birds swarm early in September. Numbers then congregate on the trees around the cattle ponds and about the open meadows, pursuing the swarms of insects which fill the air at sundown. These throngs are immediately joined by resident birds of this species, which gather about the same places, and do not return to their usual abodes until the breeding-season is at hand.
The Jamaica bird is not exclusively an insect-feeder, but eats very freely of the sweet wild berries, especially those of the pimento. These ripen in September, and in groves of these this bird may always be found in abundance. By the end of September most of the migrant birds have left the island.
This is among the earliest to breed of the birds of Jamaica. As early as January the mated pair is said to be in possession of some lofty tree, sounding at day-dawn a ceaseless shriek, which is composed of a repetition of three or four notes, sounding like pē-chēē-ry, according to Mr. Hill, and from which they derive their local name. In these localities they remain until autumn, when they quit these haunts and again congregate about the lowland ponds. In feeding, just before sunset, they usually sit, eight or ten in a row, on some exposed twig, darting from it in pursuit of their prey, and returning to it to devour whatever they have caught. They are rapid in their movements, ever constantly and hurriedly changing their positions in flight. As they fly, they are able to check their speed suddenly, and to turn at the smallest imaginable angle. At times they move off in a straight line, gliding with motionless wings from one tree to another. When one descends to pick an insect from the surface of the water, it has the appearance of tumbling, and, in rising again, ascends with a singular motion of the wings, as if hurled into the air and endeavoring to recover itself.
In the manner in which the male of this species will perch on the top of some lofty tree, and from that vantage-height scream defiance to all around him, and pursue any large bird that approaches, as described by Mr. Hill, all the audacity and courage of our Kingbird is exhibited. At the approach of a Vulture or a Hawk, he starts off in a horizontal line, after rising in the air to the same height as his adversary, and, hovering over him for a moment, descends upon the intruder’s back, rising and sinking as he repeats his attack, and shrieking all the while. In these attacks he is always triumphant.
This Flycatcher is also charged by Mr. Hill with seizing upon the Humming-Birds as they hover over the blossoms in the garden, killing its prey by repeated blows struck on the branch, and then devouring them.
The nest, according to Mr. Hill, is seldom found in any other tree than that of the palm kind. Among the web of fibres around the footstalk of each branch the nest is woven of cotton-wool and grass. The eggs, he adds, are four or five, of an ivory color, blotched with deep purple spots, intermingled with brown specks, the clusters thickening at the greater end. Mr. Gosse, on the contrary, never found the nest in a palm. One, taken from an upper limb of a bitterwood-tree that grew close to a friend’s door, at no great height, was a cup made of the stalks and tendrils of a small passion flower, the spiral tendrils very prettily arranged around the edge, and very neatly and thickly lined with black horse-hair. The other, made in a spondias bush, was a rather loose structure, smaller and less compact, almost entirely composed of tendrils, with no horse-hair, but a few shining black frond-ribs of a fern.
Mr. March states that the migrant birds of this species return to Jamaica about the last of March, gradually disperse, and, like the resident birds, occupy their selected trees in solitary pairs, and immediately set about preparing their nests. At St. Catharine’s the first nest found was on the 14th of April, and the latest in the middle of July. They seldom build in the tree in which they perch, but select a lower tree near it. Some make their nests high, others low, usually at the extremity of a lateral branch. He describes them as loose structures of twigs and the stems of trailing plants, with the cup of grass, horse-hair, and vegetable fibre. The eggs are three, rarely four, of a long oval, with a ground of light cream-color, dashed around the larger end more or less thickly with blotches of burnt sienna, and with cloudings of pale bistre underneath.
Mr. Audubon states that this Flycatcher reaches the Florida Keys about the first of April. He describes their usual flight as performed by a constant flutter of the wings, except when in chase, when they exhibit considerable power and speed. He noticed them pursue larger birds, such as Herons, Crows, Cuckoos, Grakles, and Hawks, following them quite a distance. They did not molest the Doves. They built their nests in a manner similar to the Kingbird, on the horizontal branches of the mangrove, almost invariably on the western side of the tree and of the island. Some were not more than two feet above the water, others were twenty feet. On one of the keys, although of small size, he saw several of their nests, and more than a dozen of the birds living amicably together.
Dr. J. G. Cooper, who visited Florida in the spring of 1859, informed me, by letter, on his return, that when he reached Cape Florida, March 8, none of this species were to be seen on any of the keys. The first he noticed were about the first of May, near Fort Dallas on the mainland. As, however, it rarely appears at this place, he supposes they reached the keys some weeks sooner. About May 14 he found several pairs at the Cape, and, going up the coast to New Smyrna, he found them abundant about the marshy islands. On the first of June, with a companion, he went in a small boat for the express purpose of finding their nests; and, pushing the boat about among the islands which almost filled Mosquito Lagoon, he discovered three in one afternoon. They were all built among the small branches of low dead mangrove-trees, about ten feet from the ground, formed of a loose, open flooring of small twigs, with scarcely any lining of a finer material. One contained four eggs half hatched, another three young and one egg, the third four young just hatched. He preserved one nest and all the eggs, and presented them to the National Museum in Washington. The old birds showed no resentment, and neither came near nor followed him, differing very much in this respect from the fearless and devoted Kingbird. The only notes this bird was heard to utter were loud and harsh rattling cries. Dr. Bachman informed Dr. Cooper that these birds had become quite regular summer visitants of Charleston, where they continued to breed each season. Dr. Cooper saw none away from the Florida coast, and thinks that none go inland.
The eggs of this species measure from 1 to 1.05 inches in length, and from .70 to .72 of an inch in breadth. They are of an oblong oval shape, variously marked with large blotches and smaller spots of purple, red-brown, and a dark purplish-brown. The latter color, in a few cases, is found in large masses, covering nearly a fifth of the entire surface of the egg; not inaptly compared by Mr. Gosse to the sinuous outlines of lands, as represented on a terrestrial globe.
Tyrannus verticalis, Say
ARKANSAS FLYCATCHER
Tyrannus verticalis, Say, Long’s Exped. II, 1823, 60.—Nuttall, Man. II, (2d ed.,) 1840, 306.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 173.—Scl. Catal. 1862, 235.—Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 113 (Br. Col.).—Cooper & Suckley, 168.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 312. Muscicapa verticalis, Bonap. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 18, pl. xi.—Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 422, pl. ccclix.—Ib. Birds Am. I, 1840, 199, pl. liv. Laphyctes verticalis, Caban. Mus. Hein. II, 1859, 77.—Heerm. X. S, 37.
Sp. Char. The four exterior quills attenuated very gently at the end, the first most so; third and fourth quills longest, second and fifth successively a little shorter. Tail slightly forked; bill shorter than the head. Crown, sides of head above the eyes, nape, and sides of neck pale lead-color, or ash-gray; a concealed crest on the crown, vermilion in the centre, and yellowish before and behind. Hind neck and back ash-gray, strongly tinged with light olivaceous-green, the gray turning to brown on the rump; upper tail-coverts nearly black, lower dusky; chin and part of ear-coverts dull white; throat and upper part of breast similar to the head, but lighter, and but slightly contrasted with the chin; rest of lower parts, with the under wing-coverts and axillars, yellow, deepening to gamboge on the belly, tinged with olivaceous on the breast. Wing brown, the coverts with indistinct ashy margins; secondaries and tertials edged with whitish; inner webs of primaries whitish towards the base. Tail nearly black above and glossy, duller brownish beneath; without olivaceous edgings. Exterior feather, with the outer web and the shaft, yellowish-white; inner edge of latter brown. Tips of remaining feathers paler. Bill and feet dark brown. Female rather smaller and colors less bright. Length of male, 8.25; wing about 4.50.
Hab. Western North America, from the high Central Plains to the Pacific; Colima, Mexico. Accidental in Eastern States (New Jersey, Turnbull; Plymton, Maine, Oct. 1865, Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc., X, 1865, 96).
The young bird is, in general, quite similar, with the exception of the usual appearance of immaturity, the colored patch on the crown wanting. In one specimen the first primary only is attenuated, in others none exhibit this character.
A specimen of this bird, shot at Moorestown, N. J., is in the museum of the Philadelphia Academy, but this locality can only be considered as very exceptional.
Habits. The Arkansas Flycatcher was first discovered by the party in Long’s Expedition in 1823, and described by Mr. Say. It is a bird of western North America, found from the great plains to the Pacific, and only accidentally occurring east. A single specimen is said to have been shot in Moorestown, N. J., near Philadelphia. It has been met with in Texas as far east as the river Mimbres, and in Nebraska nearly to the Missouri River. The specimen from which the first description was made was obtained in the beginning of July, near the Platte River.
Mr. Nuttall, in his Western tour, first met with this species early in July, among the scanty wood on the banks of the northwest branch of the Platte River. He characterizes it as a bold and querulous bird. He found it all the way from thence to the forests of the Columbia and the Wahlamet, and throughout California to latitude 32°. He speaks of them as remarkably noisy and quarrelsome with each other, and, like the Kingbird, suffering nothing of the bird kind to approach them without exhibiting their predilection for dispute. He describes their note as a discordant, clicking warble, resembling tsh’k-tsh’k-tshivait,—sounding not unlike the creaking of a rusty door-hinge, something in the manner of a Kingbird, with a blending of the notes of the common Purple Grakle.
Mr. Townsend mentions finding this bird numerous along the banks of the Platte, particularly in the vicinity of trees. From that river to the banks of the Columbia, and as far as the ocean, it was a very common species. The males were wonderfully belligerent, fighting almost constantly and with great fury.
Dr. J. G. Cooper states that in California this is an abundant species, arriving in that State about the 20th of March. None are known to remain within the State during the winter. Small parties of males come first, and are very quarrelsome until each one has selected its mate. This is not done for several weeks, and the earliest nest with eggs that he has found was on the 12th of May at Santa Barbara. The nest, built on a branch of a low oak near the town, was five inches wide, constructed of lichens, twigs, coarse grass, and wool, lined with hair. It contained four eggs, measuring .94 by .70 of an inch. He describes them as creamy-white, spotted with purple of two shades near the larger end.
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. He has even seen them together in parties of four about the period of mating. They do not approach the coast in Washington Territory.
Dr. Suckley found this species abundant in the central and western portions of Oregon and Washington Territory. He first noted their arrival from the South about May 15. The first notification of their presence is given by the skirmishes and quarrels incident to the love-season. Their battles are generally fought in the air, and present ludicrous alternations of pursuit and flight. At Fort Dalles their favorite breeding-places were oak-trees for the most part.
Mr. Charles D. Gibbes, of Stockton, informs us that these birds occasionally build their nests in the shrubbery about the gardens, but more frequently in large oak-trees, fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. They are constructed of weeds and grass firmly woven together, and lined with cotton, feathers, strings, and other soft materials. They are usually secured to the limb on which they are placed by a portion of the string. The diameter of the cavity of the nest is about three inches, depth one and a half. Their eggs are laid in May and June, and are four, five, or six in number. They are described as white, marked with dark brown spots on the larger end. In some the spots, decreasing in size, extend to the smaller end.
Dr. Hoy informs me that he has never detected this bird within the limits of Wisconsin, though he has no doubt that they may occasionally straggle into its limits, as have many of the birds peculiar to the Missouri region.
Mr. Ridgway gives it as one of the most abundant and familiar of the Tyrannidæ in the Sacramento Valley and the fertile portions of the Great Basin. He notes their excessively quarrelsome disposition, which far exceeds that of the eastern Kingbird, for fighting among themselves seems to be their chief amusement. As many as half a dozen of these birds were sometimes noticed pitching at one another promiscuously, in their playful combats; and when a nest was disturbed, the cries of the parents invariably brought to the vicinity all the birds of this species in the neighborhood, which, as soon as gathered together, began their aerial battles by attacking each other without regard apparently to individuals, accompanying the fight by a shrill twitter, very different from the loud rattling notes of the T. carolinensis. Indeed, all the notes of the western Kingbird are very conspicuously different from those of the eastern species, being weaker, and more twittering in their character. The nesting habits, the construction of the nest, and appearance of the eggs, are, however, almost perfectly identical.