The vegetable matter eaten consisted chiefly of small wild fruits of no economic importance.
Another phœbe inhabiting the Western States and breeding as far north as Alaska is the Say phœbe.[50] Investigation of its food was based on the examination of 86 stomachs, and while none were available for the months when insects are most numerous, the bird proved to be one of the most exclusively insectivorous of the family. That it takes a few useful insects can not be denied, but these are far outnumbered by the harmful ones it destroys, and the balance is clearly in favor of the bird. Its vegetable food amounts to only 2 per cent and is made up of a little wild fruit, seeds, and rubbish.
[50] Sayornis sayus.
The well-known eastern kingbird[51] ([fig. 19]) is essentially a lover of the orchard, though groves and the edge of forests were probably its original habitat. It breeds in the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and less commonly in the Great Basin and on the Pacific coast. Its hostility to hawks and crows is proverbial, and for this reason a family of kingbirds is a desirable adjunct to a poultry yard. On one occasion in the knowledge of the writer a hawk which attacked a brood of young turkeys was pounced upon and so severely buffeted by a pair of kingbirds whose nest was near by that the would-be robber was glad to escape without his prey. Song birds that nest near the kingbird are similarly protected.
[51] Tyrannus tyrannus.
The kingbird is largely insectivorous. It is a true flycatcher and takes on the wing a large part of its food. It does not, however, confine itself to this method of hunting, but picks up some insects from trees and weeds, and even descends to the ground in search of myriapods or thousand legs. The chief complaint against the species by both professional bee keepers and others has been that it preys largely upon honeybees. One bee raiser in Iowa, suspecting the kingbirds of feeding upon his bees, shot a number near his hives; but when the stomachs of the birds were examined by an expert entomologist, not a trace of honeybees could be found.
