The martins would be cackling, in any event, and the kingbirds practicing their aerial mock somersaults; and the mocking-bird would be singing, and the redbird whistling.

Along the road were white-crowned and white-throated sparrows (it was the 12th of April), orchard orioles, thrashers, summer tanagers, myrtle and paim warblers, cardinal grosbeaks, mocking-birds, kingbirds, logger-heads, yellowthroated vireos, and sundry others, but not the blue grosbeak, which would have been worth them all.

Among smaller birds are the blackbird, robin, catbird, red-headed woodpecker, kingfisher, kingbird, plover and yellow-hammer.

"That is the Kingbird," said the Doctor; "one of the most useful of the insect-catchers.

"So about the last of September our Kingbirds, who live everywhere in the United States, gather in flocks, start to find a place where insects are still stirring about, and fly southward, following the sea-coast and the great rivers for paths.

" "Do the Barn Swallows that are making nests in the hayloft go as far south as Kingbirds?" asked Nat.

"The frail Hummingbird has no real strength to fight enemies bigger than its tiny self, but it has been given for protection the power of flying as quick as a whizzing bullet, and courage enough to attack even a Kingbird in defence of its nest, which is a tiny circle of down, covered with lichens, and is so fastened across a branch that it looks like a knot of the limb itself.

"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.

" THE KINGBIRD "How the winged insects must hate a Kingbird, who is a real tyrant over them, and must seem very cruel!"

" THE KINGBIRD "How the winged insects must hate a Kingbird, who is a real tyrant over them, and must seem very cruel!"

" "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!

[Illustration: Kingbird.]

"But the Kingbird is not quarrelsomesimply very lively; he is the very picture of dash and daring in defending his home, and when he is teaching his youngsters how to fly.

" The Kingbird Length eight inchesabout the size of a Wood Thrush.

THE PHOEBE (THE WATER PEWEE) "Smaller, but not a whit less active than the Kingbird is the Phoebe or Water Peweethe small Flycatcher who is almost as familiar about the farm and roadside as the Robin himself.

Even then he does not hurry off toward the tropics like the ardent Kingbird, but lingers all winter in the Southern States.

Then he has two raccoons, several pigeons, kingbirds, quails, two young eagles, and a fox, all undergoing a thorough system of training.

But his favorite pets are a pair of kingbirds and a crow, which are allowed to run at large all the time.

The kingbirds, which have a nest in a tree close by the house, keep a sharp look-out; and hawks, eagles, crows, and even those of their own species, all suffer alike.

The wren is a great fighting character, continually getting into broils with the other birds, and he has no notion of being driven off; and, although the kingbirds, with Sam's assistance, generally succeed in expelling the intruder, it is only after a hard fight.

During the afternoon, as the boys sat on the piazza in front of the house, talking over the events of the morning, their attention was attracted by a combat that was going on between one of Frank's pet kingbirds and a red-headed woodpecker.

The kingbirds were completely outwitted; and, after making two or three angry darts at the hole in which their cunning enemy had taken refuge, they settled down on the branches close by to wait until he should show himself.

After waiting fully a quarter of an hour for him to come out, and seeing that the kingbirds had no idea of "raising the siege," Archie concluded (to age his own expression) that he "might as well lend a little assistance."

The next moment the woodpecker flew out, and the kingbirds were after him in an instant They followed him until he reached the woods, and then returned to the cottage.