KING-BIRD. One of the most useful and interesting of the American tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannus lyrannus). The bird is less than nine inches in length, and its plumage is grayish slate color above and Nvhite beneath; but concealed on the very top of its head it has an erectile patch of vermilion feathers surrounded by White and orange.
The notes of the king-bird are not musical, but are vigorous and attractive, though often petu lant. Some observers claim that during the breeding season the male gives utterance to a soft and very pleasing song, but as he lacks the vocal apparatus of a true song-bird, this state ment is doubtful. The food of this flycatcher is insects captured on the wing, including bees, whence the bird is often known as the bee-inartin. The king-bird occurs throughout North America during the summer, and is abundant in the East as far north as New Brunswick, and common in the Middle \Vest up to ;Manitoba, but rare west of the Rocky iMmintains. In September it migrates to Central and South America, where it remains through the winter, returning in season to reach its northern limits early in May. The nest is a well-built structure on the end of a branch, often of an apple-tree; it is composed mainly of weed-stalks, grasses. and rooth•ts, with moss, plant-down and the like in the lining. The eggs, four or five in number, are very handsome, creamy-white, sharply spotted with limber brown.
Several relatives of the western part of the United States and the countries southward are often called 'king-birdkt,' each designated by some differential name, as the Arkansas king-bird (Tyrannus vert iralis) of the Southwestern States; Cassin's king-bird (Tyrannus rocifera-ns) of the Rocky !Mountain region; and the gray king-hird ( Tyrannus Dominieensis) of Florida and the West Indies.
The great-crested flycatcher (Ifyriarchus erini tus) is a related species common and conspicuous through the Eastern !United States, where it is easily recognized by its brave aspect. large crest, and loud but not unmusical cry. Its plumage is olivaceous above, browner on the bead, throat ash-gray, abdomen yellow. It is remarkable for almost invariably weaving into its rough nest, which is usually placed in some niche or hollow in a decaying tree-stem, the east skins of one or more snakes, and also for the peculiar beauty of its eggs, which are huff-brown, covered with irregular lengthwise lines as if scratched with a fine pen. See Plate of TYPICAL FLY CATCIIERS, and Colored Plate of EGGS OF SONG Bums.
The 'king-bird' of India and the East is a drongo.