Identifier: cu31924000070809 (find matches)
Title: Bird studies for home and school; sixty common birds, their habits and haunts
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: De Groat, Herman C
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Buffalo, N. Y., Herman C. De Groat
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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darts after them and snaps them up with a sharp click of thebill. Then he returns to the same spot to wait for more prey. Among the winged insects, he sometimes catches a honey-bee and this habit has brought on him one of his names. Theexamination of the stomachs of many Kingbirds made by theBiological Survey of tlie Government shows that only a fewbees are really eaten by this species. As a beehive containssuch a multitude of workers, the loss of one now and then isof little moment compared with the great benefit done by thisbird in the destruction of bugs, moths and grasshoppers. The Kingbirds arrive here about the first of May andreturn to the tropics by the end of September, during whichinterval they often rear two broods of ydung. They have nosong, uttering only a harsh teseep as they watch for prey. The most noticeable trait of these birds is their readinessto fight. They are veritable bullies towards smaller birds andquite fearless in attacking larger ones. The Crow and the 126
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Hawk seem to stir their wrath at sight and a single Kingbirdwill drive either of them away as soon as it approaches hisneighborhood. It is amusing to see the little tyrant dart atone of these great birds of prey, saucily thrusting at it with hisbeak as he dashes down upon its back again and again, oftendriving the enemy a mile or more before leaving it, after whichhe returns to his mate who comes out promptly to join him ina revel of delight over his victory. He is properly namedKingbird, for no other bird compares with him in ability tofight and vanquish other birds. BIRD NOTES 127 BALTIMORE ORIOLE Male—Head, neck, throat and upper back black; breast,belly and lower back deep reddish-orange; wings black, witha patch of orange on shoulders; feet and bill black. Length,seven and one-half inches. The female is a yellowish, olive-colored bird with dark brown wings; and if not seen near hermate, she might not be recognized as an Oriole. The Baltimore Orioles winter in Mexico, Cuba and C

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