rie--kyrie!"

"That is a Kingbird," said the Doctor; "it is very kind of him to show
himself, for he is the bird I most wished to see. We have finished with
the true song birds now, and the next order is that of the Songless
Perching Birds--birds that have call-notes, some of them quite musical,
but no true song. So we will name them the Birds that only Croak and
Call.

"The crowing of a Rooster, the screech of a Night Owl, the Hawk's harsh
scream, the laughing and hammering of a Woodpecker, all answer the same
good purpose as a song.

"The first family of Songless Perching Birds is that of the Tyrant
Flycatchers, and the first of these birds with which we have to do is
the one you have just seen. He belongs to the guild of Sky Sweepers.

"But do not try to write anything down while we are driving over this
rough road; the surrey jolts too much. You need only listen now, and
Olive will help you with your note-books to-morrow."

THE KINGBIRD

"How the winged insects must hate a Kingbird, who is a real tyrant over
them, and must seem very cruel!" continued the Doctor. "He sits on a
rail or wire, and suddenly--flip, snap! a fly is caught--flip, snap! a
wasp dies. All day long he is waging war, and helping us in our
never-ending battle with the bugs.

"If he happens to fancy a rose-bug or juicy ant, he dashes to the leaf
or grass-blade on which the insect is crawling, hovers a moment in the
air to take aim, and then snatches the bug off. So clever is he that
when he eats bees, as he sometimes does, he seldom takes the
honey-makers, but mainly the drones; perhaps he is afraid of being
stung."

"What is a drone, Uncle Roy?" asked Dodo.

"A bee which does not work for its living and cannot sting."

"The Kingbird is proud of his nest, which he often confides to a maple
on the edge of a garden, or to your pet pear tree. But let Hawks and
Crows beware even of thinking about a Kingbird's nest! For he loves his
home, and hates those who would injure it; and what is more, he is not
one bit afraid of them. If they come in sight he attacks them bravely,
and drives them far away, even if they are so big and fierce that he
has to call his friends to help him; so that the robber Crow or cannibal
bird is lucky if he does not lose an eye before he escapes.

[Illustration: Kingbird.]

"But the Kingbird is not quarrelsome--simply very lively; he is the very
picture of dash and daring in defending his home, and when he is
teac