Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0008/00087.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 15KB | 234 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00087}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Tyrant Flycatcher.--King-bird}
$Subject{Muscicapinae; Muscicapa; Tyrannus; tyrannus; Tyrant Flycatcher;
King-bird; Eastern Kingbird}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume I}
$Volume{Vol. 1:204-209}
$Family{Muscicapinae}
$Genus{Muscicapa; Tyrannus}
$Species{tyrannus}
$Common_Name{Tyrant Flycatcher; King-bird; Eastern Kingbird}
$Log{
Plate LVI*00087p1.scf
Family*00080.txt
Genus*00084.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                    VOL. I.
                        --------------------------------


                       THE TYRANT FLYCATCHER.--KING-BIRD.
                              [Eastern Kingbird.]


                           MUSCICAPA TYRANNUS, Linn.
                              [Tyrannus tyrannus.]


                          PLATE LVI.--MALE AND FEMALE.


     The Tyrant Flycatcher, or, as it is commonly named, the Field Martin, or
King-bird, is one of the most interesting visiters of the United States, where
it is to be found during spring and summer, and where, were its good qualities
appreciated as they deserve to be, it would remain unmolested.  But man being
generally disposed to consider in his subjects a single fault sufficient to
obliterate the remembrance of a thousand good qualites, even when the latter are
beneficial to his interest, and tend to promote his comfort, persecutes the
King-bird without mercy, and extends his enmity to its whole progeny.  This
mortal hatred is occasioned by a propensity which the Tyrant Flycatcher now and
then shews to eat a honey-bee, which the farmer looks upon as exclusively his
own property.
     The Field Martin arrives in Louisiana, from the south, about the middle of
March.  Many individuals remain until the middle of September, but the greater
number proceed gradually northwards, and are dispersed over every portion of the
United States.  For a few days after its arrival, it seems fatigued and doleful,
and remains perfectly silent.  But no sooner has it recovered its naturally
lively spirits, than its sharp tremulous cry is heard over the fields, and along
the skirts of all our woods.  It seldom enters the forests, but is fond of
orchards, large fields of clover, the neighbourhood of rivers, and the gardens
close to the houses of the planters.  In this last situation its habits are best
observed.
     Its flight has now assumed a different manner.  The love-season is at hand.
The male and female are seen moving about through the air, with a continued
quivering motion of their wings, at a height of twenty or thirty yards above the
ground, uttering a continual, tremulous, loud shriek.  The male follows in the
wake of the female, and both seem panting for a suitable place in which to form
their nest.  Meanwhile, they watch the motions of different insects, deviate a
little from the course of their playful rounds, and with a sweeping dart secure
and swallow the prey in an instant.  Probably the next sees them perched on the
twig of a tree, close together, and answering the calls Of nature.
     The choice of a place being settled by the happy pair, they procure small
dry twigs from the ground, and rising to a horizontal branch, arrange them as
the foundation of their cherished home.  Flakes of cotton, wool or tow, and
other substances of a similar nature, are then placed in thick and regular
layers, giving great bulk and consistence to the fabric, which is finally lined
with fibrous roots and horse-hair.  The female then deposits her eggs, which are
from four to six in number, broadly ovate, reddish-white, or blush colour,
irregularly spotted with brown.  No sooner has incubation commenced, than the
male, full of ardour, evinces the most daring courage, and gallantly drives off
every intruder.  Perched on a twig not far from his beloved mate, in order to
protect and defend her, he seems to direct every thought and action to these
objects.  His snow-white breast expands with the warmest feelings; the feathers
of his head are raised and spread, the bright orange spot laid open to the rays
of the sun; he stands firm on his feet, and his vigilant eye glances over the
wide field of vision around him.  Should he espy a Crow, a Vulture, a Martin, or
an Eagle, in the neighbourhood or at a distance, he spreads his wing to the air,
and pressing towards the dangerous foe, approaches him, and commences his attack
with fury.  He mounts above the enemy, sounds the charge, and repeatedly
plunging upon the very back of his more powerful antagonist, essays to secure a
hold.  In this manner, harassing his less active foe with continued blows of his
bill, he follows him probably for a mile, when, satisfied that he has done his
duty, he gives his wings their usual quivering motion, and returns exulting and
elated to his nest, trilling his notes all the while.
     Few Hawks will venture to approach the farm-yard while the King-bird is
near.  Even the cat in a great measure remains at home; and, should she appear,
the little warrior, fearless as the boldest Eagle, plunges towards her, with
such rapid and violent motions, and so perplexes her with attempts to peck on
all sides, that grimalkin, ashamed of herself, returns discomfited to the house.
     The many eggs of the poultry which he saves from the plundering Crow, the
many chickens that are reared under his protection, safe from the clutches of
the prowling Hawks, the vast number of insects which he devours, and which would
otherwise torment the cattle and horses, are benefits conferred by him, more
than sufficient to balance the few raspberries and figs which he eats, and
calculated to insure for him the favour and protection of man.
     The King-bird fears none of his aerial enemies save the Martin; and
although the latter frequently aids him in protecting his nest, and watching
over the farm-yard, it sometimes attacks him with such animosity as to force him
to retreat, the flight of the Martin being so superior to that of the King-bird
in quickness and power, as to enable it to elude the blows which the superior
strength of the latter might render fatal.  I knew an instance in which some
Martins, that had been sole proprietors of a farm-yard for several seasons,
shewed so strong an antipathy to a pair of King-birds, which had chanced to
build their nest on a tree within a few yards of the house, that, no sooner had
the female begun to sit on her eggs, than the Martin attacked the male with
unremitting violence for several days, and, notwithstanding his courage and
superior strength, repeatedly felled him to the ground, until he at length died
of fatigue, when the female was beaten off in a state of despair, and forced to
seek a new protector.
     The King-bird is often seen passing on the wing over a field of clover,
diving down to the very blossoms, and reascending in graceful undulations,
snapping his bill, and securing various sorts of insects, now and then varying
his mode of chase in curious zigzag lines, shooting to the right and left, up
and down, as if the object which he is pursuing were manoeuvring for the purpose
of eluding him.
     About the month of August, this species becomes comparatively mute, and
resorts to the old abandoned fields and meadows.  There, perched on a
fence-stake or a tall mullein stalk, he glances his eye in various directions,
watching the passing insects, after which he darts with a more direct motion
than in spring.  Having secured one, he returns to the same or another stalk,
beats the insect, and then swallows it.  He frequently flies high over the large
rivers and lakes, sailing and dashing about in pursuit of insects.  Again,
gliding down towards the water, he drinks in the manner of various species of
Swallow.  When the weather is very warm, he plunges repeatedly into the water,
alights afte