Identifier: countrylifereade00stev (find matches)
Title: Country life reader
Year: 1916 (1910s)
Authors: Stevenson, Orlando John, 1869- (from old catalog)
Subjects: Country life. (from old catalog) Readers
Publisher: New York, Chicago (etc.) C. Scribner's sons

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s, and the wild ^Killdeer, killdeer from theother side of the field seems, like a peal of derisive mockery,to warn you how simply and easily you have been fooled. Of the birds whichare found in the fieldsin later spring, proba-bly none are betterknown to the farmersboys than the king-bird.The crown, fromwhich the king-birdgets his name, is notvery conspicuous, but ifyou should brush backthe feathers of the head,you would find a hid-den crown patch ofbright ruby feathers,the only touch of colorthat he has. As foracting like a king or anabsolute ruler, the hawks and crows and blue jays, ifthey were called upon, could give abundant evidence ofthat. It is not an uncommon thing, in later summer, tosee a pair of king-birds in pursuit of an intruding crow,one perched on his back and pecking furiously at the feath-ers of his neck and head, while the other circles round andround, dashing at his victims eyes and tormenting him atevery turn. The king-bird generally feeds upon the larger insects,
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King-bird. BIRDS OF THE FARM: THE FIELDS 343 the dragon-flies, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas,etc., and when food is scarce and bees cross his path, hewill not refuse them; but the bees form an exceedinglysmall part of his bill of fare. I remember once, a fewsummers ago, being very much interested in watchingtwo king-birds acting the part of highwaymen on theroadside, in front of the place where I was staying. Acolony of sand-hornets or digger-wasps, several hundredin number, were busy stocking their underground tunnelswith green grasshoppers and crickets. The king-birds, inthe meantime, sat on the fence near by and darted outfrom time to time to relieve the hornets of their burdenswhen they arrived with fresh supplies. I do not knowwhether they ate the hornets, too; probably not, for thatwould be hke killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.There is nothing of special interest in the nesting habitsof the king-bird, except that he uses sheeps wool to helpto hne the nest.

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