The true flycatcher way to get a dinner is to sit still and wait. The
very babies in the nest are patient little fellows. They never make half
the row over their dinner that young robins do. They could give lessons
in table manners to some young folks I have seen. And waiting seems to
be a good way, for nobody is better fed than a flycatcher.
[Illustration: KINGBIRD]
On his perch the waiting bird sits perfectly still, but keeps a sharp
lookout all around him. When a fly or other insect comes near that he
thinks he will like, he dashes out and catches it as it flies. Then he
goes back to his perch and waits for another.
Some of the family have the habit of singing as they wait. The wood
pewee drawls out his sweet "pee-u-ee," the phœbe sings his sharp
"phœ-be" by the hour, and the least flycatcher snaps out his "chebec"
till we are tired of hearing him.
Flycatchers are classed among birds who do not sing, but several of them
do sing,--not loud, like a robin, but low, quiet songs to the mate or
the nestlings.
One of the best known of the flycatchers all over the country is the
KINGBIRD. He is a little smaller than a robin, and all in brownish
black, with white breast. He has also white tips to his tail feathers,
which look very fine when he spreads it out wide in flying.
Among the head feathers of the kingbird is a small spot of orange color.
This is called in the books a "concealed patch" because it is seldom
seen, it is so hidden by the dark feathers.
This bird does much good by eating many insects. It is often said that
he eats bees. But a curious thing has been found out about this habit.
It seems he has a choice in bees. He is fond of the drones which make no
honey, and so are not useful in a hive. He will hunt drones all day, but
he is shy of a honey bee. Do you know why? The bird has not told us, but
we can guess that it is because the honey bee is armed with a sting, and
can make it very uncomfortable for any bird who catches her.
There is another reason too why the bird may prefer the drone. The honey
bee usually flies low, where the flowers are, while the drone isn't
after flowers and flies higher in the air. The kingbird sits higher than
the honey bee flies, and the drones are the ones that come near him.
Another insect that the kingbird is fond of is the robber fly, which
destroys hundreds of honey bees. That should make every bee-keeper his
friend.
These things have been found out in the way I told you, by shooting the
birds to see what they had been eating.
Mr. Bryant, who knows birds well, tells of a bee-keeper in California
who saw a great many kingbirds among his bees. Of course he thought they
were eating them, and he killed one hundred of them. On looking into
their stomachs to see if they had eaten honey bees, he found them filled
with drones. They had been working for him all the time, for every
bee-keeper likes to have drones killed.