(Tyrannus tyrannus)

The kingbird (fig. 6) Is essentially a lover of the orchard, and wherever the native groves have been replaced by fruit trees this pugnacious bird takes up its abode. It breeds in all of the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and less commonly in the Great Basin and on the Pacific Coast. It migrates south early in the fall, and generally leaves the United States to spend the winter in more southern latitudes.

The kingbird manifests its presence in many ways. It is somewhat boisterous and obtrusive, and its antipathy for hawks and crows is well known. It never hesitates to give battle to any of these marauders, no matter, how superior in size, 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.

In its food habits this species is largely insectivorous. It is a true flycatcher by nature, and takes a large part of its food on the wing. 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 kingbird is that it preys largely upon honeybees; and this charge has been made both by professional bee keepers and others. Many observers have seen the bird at work near hives, and there is no reason to doubt the honesty of their testimony. One bee raiser in Iowa, suspecting the kingbirds of feeding upon his bees, shot a number near his hives, but when the birds' stomachs were examined by an expert entomologist not a trace of honeybees could be found.

The Biological Survey has made an examination of 281 stomachs collected in various parts of the country, but found only 14 containing remains of honeybees. In these 14 stomachs there were in all 50 honeybees, of which 40 were drones, 4 were certainly workers, and the remaining 6 were too badly broken to be identified as to sex.

The insects that constitute the great bulk of the food of this bird are noxious species, largely beetles—May beetles, click beetles (the larvÆ of which are known as wire worms), weevils, which prey upon fruit and grain, and a host of others. Wasps, wild bees, and ants are conspicuous elements of the food, far outnumbering the hive bees. During summer many grasshoppers and crickets, as well as leaf hoppers and other bugs, are also eaten. Among the flies were a number of robber flies—insects which prey largely upon other insects, especially honeybees, and which have been known to commit in this way extensive depredations. It is thus evident that the kingbird by destroying these flies actually does good work for the apiarist. Nineteen robber flies were found in the stomachs examined; these may be considered more than an equivalent for the four worker honeybees already mentioned. A few caterpillars are eaten, mostly belonging to the group commonly known as cutworms, all the species of which are harmful. About 10 per cent of the food consists of small native fruits, comprising some twenty common species of the roadsides and thickets, such as dogwood berries, elder berries and wild grapes. The bird has not been reported as eating cultivated fruit to an injurious extent, and it is very doubtful if this is ever the case, for cherries and blackberries are the only ones that might have come from cultivated places, and they were found in but few stomachs.

Three points seem to be clearly established in regard to the food of the kingbird—(1) that about 90 per cent consists of insects, mostly injurious species; (2) that the alleged habit of preying upon honeybees is much less prevalent than has been supposed, and probably does not result in any great damage; and (3) that the vegetable food consists almost entirely of wild fruits which have no economic value. These facts, taken in connection with its well-known enmity for hawks and crows, entitle the kingbird to a place among the most desirable birds of the orchard or garden.