The nest being completed, on the following day the female begins to deposit her complement of three or four eggs, at the rate of one egg daily. Incubation now ensues, sometimes on the day of the last deposit, but generally on the morrow. This duty lasts from fourteen to fifteen days, and is wholly the work of the female. While she is thus occupied, the male stands guard over the nest, or acts the part of a dutiful and affectionate husband, by providing her with the necessary food. Should their home be disturbed by feathered assailants, or by man, the female leaves the nest, and by loud cries and menacing gestures, seeks, with the assistance of her partner, to drive off the intruders. Often the attack is carried on with a boldness and determination that challenge admiration.
The love for offspring is very intense, and manifests itself in unwearied devotion, and the tenderest solicitude. From early morn until dusk, one parent or the other is constantly on the go for appropriate articles of fare. Usually but one is absent at a time on this important business. But the demands for food are so pressing, that both are sometimes compelled to leave home, but only for a short time, and then never beyond seeing distance of the nest. At first the young are fed upon smooth caterpillars, aphides, spiders, ants, butterflies, and dipterous insects; but as they mature, small beetles and other hard-shelled articulates are added to their varied and extensive menu. At the age of fifteen days, they quit the nest, receive instructions in ærial navigation under the tutorage of the paternal head, and in ten days more, are prepared to shift for themselves.
One peculiarity of this species must have struck the attention of every careful observer of its habits; that is, its remarkable sociability. Audubon cites a case where no less than nine pairs were found breeding in the same enclosure. We have known instances where as many as five nests, all occupied, were crowded in the same orchard, within a short distance of each other. The most perfect good feeling and harmony prevailed in this little colony, the birds mingling together with the freedom and ease of inhabitants of the best regulated human communities.
The eggs are oblong-oval in form, pointed at one extremity, and marked with pale purple blotches and a few deep dark purplish-brown dashes upon a light bluish-white background. Specimens from Washington measure .85 by .62 of an inch; from New Mexico, .79 by .54; and from Pennsylvania, .88 by .58.
Original Size
Plate V.—TYRANNUS CAROLINENSIS, Baird.—Kingbird.
The Kingbird, or Bee Martin, has an extensive range, being found during the summer throughout the continent of North America, from Texas and Florida in the south, as far as the 57th parallel of north latitude. Westward, north of the 44th parallel, it ranges from the Atlantic seaboard to Oregon and Washington on the shores of the Pacific.
Its arrival in the United States from Mexico, Central and South America, and tropical Cuba, where it winters, generally occurs during the early part of April. Having taken the step, the birds are not long in spreading themselves over their immense breeding-grounds, which have been found to be co-extensive with the whole territory over which they range. They reach the Middle Atlantic States from the 20th of April to the first of May; the New England, from the first to the 10th of the latter month, and their more northern habitats, not later than the 15th.
Careful observations, carried through a series of years, have convinced us that the appearance of the males always antedates that of the females by a week or ten days. Their advent is unheralded by song, or noisy demonstration, and is as mysterious as their departure. Our knowledge of the fact is mainly furnished by the eye, and not by the ear, which is ordinarily the first organ that apprises us thereof.
Like most of its kin, the Kingbird is not gifted with a fine voice. When it does essay a madrigal, its shrill, unmusical syllables are anything but pleasing and welcome to the cultivated ear. It may be otherwise with beings of its own special class. At all events, his song, if such it can be truly called, has the anticipated effect—namely, that of calling from her wanderings, the partner, whose presence he is anxiously awaiting in his shady retreat.
Unblessed with the talent of producing sweet and soul-inspiring music, Nature has made amends for her seeming neglect by endowing him with certain mental and spiritual qualities which amply compensate for the want of a melodious voice. A noble, self-sacrificing nature, and a courageous but affectionate disposition, are traits of character which our little friend possesses in a remarkable degree.
Aware of these high qualities, the female, never unduly coy, but innocent, arch and simple, seeks rather than shuns the society of her suitor, almost as soon as she has reached his whereabouts, and proudly but courteously receives his attentions, which, without any show or pretension, she generously reciprocates by consenting to become his companion and helpmeet. Consequently, the season of courtship is comparatively brief.
Mating being accomplished, the newly-made couple, without much ado, and with but little waste of time, start off in quest of a suitable spot for a nest. This appears to be a difficult matter to settle. The pasture-grounds and waste places for which they have all along manifested a strong predilection, are deserted for the more congenial situations to be found about the home of man. Orchards of pear- and apple-trees, or an isolated pear-tree in close proximity to a human dwelling, are now visited. When the former, tree after tree is examined, and the particular advantages of each discussed, before one is found which answers all the requirements. These examinations often continue for a fortnight. The female seems to be the controlling spirit in these transactions.
The nest is generally placed between the forked branches of a pear-tree, although the apple, cherry, osage orange, oak, cottonwood and tulip-tree are sometimes employed for this purpose. Why the pear should be preferred in certain localities above all other trees, it is difficult to divine, unless the density of its foliage, and the short spine-like twigs with which it is armed, afford security from the attacks of rapacious birds and mischief-loving boys. Mostly the birds select for building purposes the topmost boughs where the densest foliage abounds, although instances are known to us, through actual observation, where such structures have been found but five feet from the ground. Again, nests have been met with on the borders of deep forests, in situations remote from man, which fact seems to point to the conclusion that the habit of building in orchards has been acquired since the peopling of this country by human beings. The fondness of the Kingbird for the little honey-bee, whose hives are generally placed contiguous to human dwellings, has, doubtless, through the desire to be near such articles of luxury, prompted the change of habitat. This species, like one of its near congeners, occasionally builds upon the timbers of a bridge. Dr. Brewer mentions a case which came under his observation in the summer of 1851. While the doctor was passing over a bridge near the village of Aylesford, N. S., he was startled to see an individual of this species fly from a nest which was built on the projecting end of one of the planks of which the bridge was composed. "So remarkably exposed a position, open to view and on a level with and within a few feet of the highway," says he, "must be quite unusual." One fact which the same distinguished writer mentions, showing that the Kingbird, during the breeding-season,