No more interesting description of the Kingbird has come to my attention than that by Major Bendire. He writes as follows:
“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 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; their reputation for pugnacity and reckless courage is so well established that it is almost needless to dwell on it, as it is well known that they will boldly attack and drive off the largest of our Raptores, should one venture too near to their chosen nesting-sites.
“Where a pair or more of these birds make their home in the vicinity of a farmhouse, the poultry yard is not likely to suffer much through feathered marauders at least; they are a perfect terror to all hawks, instantly darting at them and rising above them, alighting on their shoulders or necks, and picking away at them most unmercifully until they are only too willing to beat a hasty retreat. The male is seemingly always on the lookout from his perch on the top branches of a tree or post for such enemies and no matter how large they may be, a pair of Kingbirds is more than a match for any of them, our larger Falcons and Eagles not excepted. Crows and Blue Jays seem to be especially obnoxious to them, and instances are on record where they have done them material injury.”
Major Bendire says also that kingbirds do not “bully” all birds, but “as a rule live in harmony with them, protecting not only their own nests but those of their small neighbors as well, who frequently place their nests within a few feet of the Kingbirds—the Orchard Oriole, for instance.” He tells however, of the kingbird’s dislike of the hummingbird—that he has twice seen the tiny “aggressor” put the larger bird to flight.[125]
Kingbirds were for a long time believed to eat bees and therefore were in disfavor. They were called Bee-birds or Bee-Martins and were shot by bee-keepers who did not understand their great value. Professor Beal and other investigators in the Biological Department at Washington have discovered that ninety per cent. of kingbirds’ food consists of insects, mostly injurious beetles that prey upon grain and fruit. They occasionally eat bees, but examination of many stomachs reveals a marked preference for drones over workers, and for wasps, wild bees, and ants over hive bees.[126] So kingbirds have been exonerated.
THE GRAY KINGBIRD
Flycatcher Family—Tyrannidæ
Length: About 9 inches.
Male and Female: Upper parts light gray, darker about the cheeks; concealed orange patch on the crown; under parts whitish, washed with gray on the breast; wings and tail brownish; no white band on the tail, like the northern kingbird; bill very heavy—almost an inch long, with bristles at the base.
Note: A loud call, Pit-tear′-re, “which is constant and is at times lengthened and softened until it might almost be called a song.”[127] The natives of Porto Rico call the bird “pitir′re” because of its note.
Range: Breeds from Georgia, southeastern South Carolina, Florida, and Yucatan, through the Bahamas and West Indies to northern South America; winters from the Greater Antilles southward. It is common in our southeastern states.
The following is an extract from Dr. Wetmore’s interesting description of the Gray Kingbird in the bulletin, “Birds of Porto Rico,” used with the permission of the author:
“The gray kingbird has the reputation among the country people of being the earliest riser among birds. In the daytime it scatters along the slopes and through the fields to feed, but at nightfall gathers in small parties along streams to roost in the bamboos or in the mangroves surrounding the lagoons. The nesting season extends from April to July and during the latter month young are abundant. At all times very pugnacious, pursuing blackbirds, hawks, and other birds, they now become doubly so, resenting all intrusions in their neighborhood. Occasionally they were seen standing on open perches during showers with outspread trembling wings, evidently enjoying the downpour.
“A few facts regarding the insect food of this kingbird were learned from field observation. Birds were twice observed eating the caterpillars of a large sphinx moth. These were beaten on a limb, and then the juices were extracted by working the body through the bill, while only the skin was discarded. Their services in eating these and other caterpillars were recognized.”