arth. Nearly every orchard will be
found to contain one or

[Illustration 283: Creamy white.]
[Illustration: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.]
[Illustration: Cream color.]
[Illustration: Kingbird.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 282

more pairs of these great insect destroyers; if more than one pair,
there will be continual warfare as often as one encroaches on the
domains of the other. Their nests are made of strips of vegetable fibre,
weeds, etc., and lined with horsehair or catkins. They are sometimes
quite bulky and generally very substantially made. The three to five
eggs are laid the latter part of May, and are of a creamy ground color
splashed with reddish brown and lilac. Size .95 x .70. Data.--Worcester
County, Massachusetts, June 3, 1895. 4 eggs. Nest 10 feet from the
ground in an apple tree; made of fibres, string, rootlets and weeds,
lined with horse hair. Collector, F. C. Clark.

[Illustration 284: G. E. Moulthrope. NEST AND EGGS OF KINGBIRD.]

Page 283

445. GRAY KINGBIRD. _Tyrannus dominicensis._

Range.--West Indies; north in April to Florida and the South Atlantic
States to South Carolina and casually farther.

This species is slightly larger than our Kingbird, (9 inches long),
grayish instead of dark drab above, white below, and without any white
tip to tail. Like the common Kingbird, it has a concealed orange patch
on the crown. Their habits and nesting habits are the same as those of
our common bird, but the nest is not generally as well built, and nearly
always is made largely of twigs. The three or four eggs have a creamy or
a creamy pink ground color, spotted and blotched with dark brown and
lilac, most numerously about the large end. Size 1.00 x .73. Tarpon
Springs, Florida, May 28, 1802. Nest of twigs and weeds in a low bush.
Collector, J. A. Southley.

446. COUCH'S KINGBIRD. _Tyrannus melancholicus couchi._

Range.--Mexico, north in summer to southern Texas.

This species is very similar to the next but the throat and breast are
white, and the underparts a brighter yellow. Like the other members of
this genus, these build their nests in any location in trees or bushes,
making them of twigs, weeds and moss. Their three or four eggs have a
creamy ground with a pinkish cast and are spotted with brown and lilac.
Size .97 x .12.

447. ARKANSAS KINGBIRD. _Tyrannus verticalis._

Range.--Western United States and southern British Provinces from Kansas
and Minnesota west to th