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. THE PHŒBE. (_Sayornis phœbe._) Among the early spring arrivals at the North, none more welcome than the phœbe (fig. 7). Though, naturally building its nest under an overhanging cliff of rock or earth, or in the mouth of a cave, its preference for the vicinity of farm buildings is so marked that in the more thickly settled parts of the country the bird is seldom seen at any great distance from a farmhouse except where a bridge spans some stream, affording a secure spot for a nest. Its confiding disposition has rendered it a great favorite, and consequently it is seldom disturbed. It breeds throughout the United States east of the Great Plains, and winters from the South Atlantic and Gulf States southward. [Illustration: Fig. 7.--Phœbe.]