Some Utah Birds, V: Arkansas Flycatcher

SOME UTAH BIRDS. BY CLAUDE T. BARNES, M. S. P. R., MEMBER NATIONAL ASSOCI- ATION AUDUBON SOCIETY. V— ARKANSAS FLYCATCHER. (Tyr annus Verticalis.) He hath no friends but what are friends for fear; Which, in his dearest need, will fly from him. — Shakespeare: Richard III. The previous articles in this series have been, for the most part, on different members of the family Icteridae — Orioles, — we having considered the Western Meadow Lark, the Redwing Blackbird and Bullock's Oriole. We shall, therefore, for the present, at least, pass the following Utah members of the same family: the Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorous), the Yellow Headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus Icterocephalus) and Brewer's Blackbird (Scolecojphagus cyanocephalus) , — all of them being interesting species but not sufficiently unlike their brothers already written upon, to merit separate treatment. We come, then, to a new family, the Tyrannidce , or Tyrant Flycatchers, which are found only in the New World. There are numerous sub-families; but the only one that belongs to North America is the Tyrannince . After considerable research, I find in Utah the following representatives of this sub-family: the Kingbird (Tyrannus carolinensis) , the Arkansas Flycatcher (Tyrannus veiticalis) the Ash-throated Flycatcher {Myiarchus crinitus cinerascens) ; Say's Pewee (Sayornis sayus); the Olive Sided Flycatcher (contupus borealis); the Western Wood Pewee (contopus virens richardsoni) ; the Little Flycatcher (Empidonax Pusillus); the

32 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . Western Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonaxjlaviventris difficilis) and Wright's Flycatcher (Empidonax obseurus). Of these the Black-headed Kingbird and the Ash-throated Flycatcher are fairly common; but the most numerous bird of this family in our intermountain valleys is the Arkansas Flycatcher, which it is the purpose of this article to discuss. Arkansas Flycatcher. In view of the fact that the Arkansas Flycatcher has many near relatives in Utah, a close description of him is opportune. It may be said, however, that if you stroll beside the roadside trees and look through your opera glasses at what the boys call a "Kingbird" you are likely to discover an Arkansas Flycatcher. The photograph herewith faithfully delineates the outline of

SOME UTAH BIRDS. 33 the bird, which suggests at once aggressiveness and pugnacity. The general color aspect, above, is lead or light ash, on the head and neck, olivaceous ash on the back, brownish ash on the rump and brownish black on the tail. The outer webs and the shafts of the side tail feathers are white; and all of the tail feathers are tipped with light brown. The whole tail is long and slightly forked. The wings are brown, though the basal inner webs of the primaries and secondaries and a marginal part of the outer webs of the fcertials, are whitish. By parting the feathers on the top of the head, we find a crimson crest which is yellowish before and behind. The black bill is fitted with a tiny hook at the end. The region about the eye and the throat is pale ash color like the back neck; the breast is olivaceous yellow; the abdomen, lemon yellow and the under tail coverts the same color, though of a more whitish cast. The under tail is blackish brown with a pure white stripe running down each side — the outer margins of the outer feathers. The under wings are ashy brown and the feet are black with the exception of the connecting lines of the scutellce (scale plates) which*are gray. The three outer wing quills are sharply cut away at the extremities; and the third and fourth feathers are longest. The whole length of the bird is eight and a quarter inches. The Arkansas Flycatcher is distributed quite plentifully over that territory between the high central plains and the Pacific, though a few accidental specimens are taken in the Eastern states. In Utah, the males arrive in May, the females coming soon afterward; and all depart again in October. Thefhabits of this bird are extremely conspicuous and interesting. The whole family seems to be engaged in a perpetual broil, though I am inclined to believe that the conflicts are good natured and incited by a mere love of encounter. When other birds, however, approach the tree which the flycatchers have chosen, the attack becomes one of fierce hatred and daring. Even the great Swainson hawk, then, flees from the onslaught of the flycatcher into whose domain he had chanced to make a customary self-confident incursion; and, often, he is pestered for half a mile

34 IMPR 0 VEMENT ERA . before the valorous birds leave him. Still, in some of our Utah lanes, where many feathered varieties fill the air with chirping and song, the flycatcher permits English sparrows, meadow larks, mourning doves, Bullock's orioles, and purple finches to alight upon the lower limbs of his tree, contenting his tyrannical nature by keeping clear the upper branches from which he overlooks all. The farmer who keeps many chickens will do well to let the kingbirds occupy the barnyard tree, for though hawks may miss the gun, they always get a bothersome reception from the flycatchers. In fact one of the easiest means of detecting the presence of kingbirds is by noticing their fights. If, upon approaching a tree several hundred yards away, one see two birds shoot out suddenly from its branches, struggle in the air and then calmly return, one may be certain that the belligerants are kingbirds. The very name of these birds — ' 'flycatchers" — carries with it the unmistakable import that they spend a good deal of their time in the air. Sometimes, when a desperate encounter is on, two birds will clutch each other and fall fighting to the ground where they continue in true sparrow fashion; but by far the more conflicts begin and end while the combatants are on the wing. It is difficult to appreciate the calling of the flycatcher's discordant, clicking warble, which Nuttall says resembles "tsh'ktsh'k-tshivait," a song, for in fact there is more clamorous squawk than melody about the noise it constantly utters. Matthews, however, puts his stridulous notes in music as follows : Ker-rip ker-rip quirp, ker r-r ker-r r ker-r-r! Early in the morning when the grass is still crisp with dew, the kingbird seems to say, "Wake-up, wake-up, lazy, cur, cur-r-r, cur-r-r!;" but aside from these rasping twitters he cannot be said to be capable of song. As these birds are found in almost every fertile portion of Utah, we can expect to chance upon their nests anywhere — in the barnyard locust, the lone apple tree, the peach tree, the big box elder trees, or in the mountain oaks. It seems to suit the tyrannical inclinatio

SOME UTAH BIRDS. 35 of the kingbird to occupy a lone tree or a solitary clump of trees, for thereby his dominance is facilitated. The nest is constructed of twigs, coarse grasses, wool and lichens, the whole being lined with hair; and it may rest in the crotch of the tree or upon a limb. The eggs, about four in number, are an inch long and of crystalline whiteness marked with dashes of reddish and purplish brown near the larger end. The economic importance of this bird is seldom appreciated, for few realize that ninety per cent of its food consists of insects gathered from among myriads of May beetles, click beetles, wheat and fruit weevils, grasshoppers, and leaf hoppers. The kingbird has been accused of destroying bees; but the Biological Survey examined 281 stomachs finding that only 14 contained bees, 50 in all, 40 drones, 4 workers and 6 undetermined. Ten per cent of the kingbird's food consists of small fruit such as elder berries, blackberries, and wild cherries. The young are fed on crickets and grasshoppers, one bird being capable of devouring over a hundred in a single day. Of interesting habits, of great service to man, the Arkansas Flycatcher with his kindred truly merit the protection our Utah statute affords . Salt Lake City, Utah. THANKSGIVING. Makes you feel so fresh and bloomin', Helps you ge a 1 ittle wetter, When the Autumn days are here, When the snows bring summer's death , Old leaves fallin' winds a blowin', Keeps you full o' mirth and cheer. Yes, Thanksgivin* time's a comin', Like to go along a kickin" With its turkeys, pies and fun, Of the dead leaves on the street, And we all rejoice together, Feel like gettin' out and hollerin', When we think our best we've done; ' Cause thanksgivin' soon we' 11 greet. But there' s room for much improvement, As we weigh each slight mistake, Want to get right out a bracin* And we gather 'round the table, All the storms whene'er they come, Of its bounties to partake. Makes you feel like you're a'racin' Then we feel to ask the Father, 'Long life's race track's busy hum. While our hearts are full o* cheer, Makes you like your lessons better, That he'll help us in achieving Feelin' Autumn's frosty breath. Better deeds from year to year. Heber, Utah. Sarah M- Williams.