KING-BIRD. 504 KING-CRAB. {Tyrannus tyrannus) . Tlie bird is less than nine inches in lenfjtli, and its plumage is grayish slate- color above and white beneath; but concealed on the very top of its head it has an erectile patch of vermilion feathers surrounded by white and orange. The notes of the kin^r-hird are not musical, but are vigorous and attractive, though often petu- lant. Some observers claim that during the breeding season the male gives utterance to a soft an<l very jileasing song. l)ut as he laeks the vocal apjiaratus of a true song-bird, this state- ment is doidHful. The food of this llycatcher is insects ca])turcd on the wing, including bees, whence the bird is often known as the liee-martin. The king-bird occurs throughout North .Xmcrica during the summer, and is abundant in the East as far north as New P.runswick, and common in the Jlidillc West up to ilanitoba, hnt rare west of the Rocky Mountains. In September it migrates to Central and South America, where it remains through tile winter, returning in season to reach its northern limits early in JIay. The nest is a Mell-built structure on the end of a branch, often of an apple-tree; it is composed mainly of weed-stalks, grasses, and rootlets, with moss, plant-down and the like in the lining. The eggs, four or five in number, arc very handsome, creamy-white, sharply spotted with umber brown. Several relatives of the western part of the United States and the countries southward ar^" often called 'king-birds,' each designated by sonic dilTercntial name, as the Arkansas king-bird (Tyraiintis vertiralis) of the Southwestern States; Cassin's king-bird (Tyrannus vociferans) of the Rocky Mountain region ; and the gray king-bird (Tyrannus Dominiccnsis) of Florida and the West! Indies. The great-crested flycatcher (^[y7■iarchns crinl- tus) is a related species common and conspicnmis through the Eastern United States, where it is easily recognized by its brave aspect, large crest, and loud liiit not unmusical cry. Its plumage is olivaceous above. l)ro er on the head, throat ash-gray, abdomen yellow. It is remarkable for almost invariably weaving into its rough nest, which is usually placed in some niche or hollow in a decaying tree-stem, the east skins of one or more snakes, and also for the peculiar beauty of its eggs, which are buff-brown, covered with irregular lengthwise lines as if scratched with a fine pen. See Plate of Typic.l Fly- catchers, and Colored Plate of Eggs of Song Birds. The 'king-bird' nf India and the East is a drongo. KING CHARLES SPANIEL. See Spaniel. KING COLE. See Cole. Kino. KING-CONCH. A local name in Florida of Strombiis yif/'is. See CoNcn, and compare Queen- Conch. KING COTTON. A popular term intended to indicate the supremacy of cotton among the prod- ucts of the South and in the markets and manu- factures of the world. The expression is said to have lieen first used by iScnator Hammond, of South Carolina, in a speech in 1858. KING-CRAB. A large, singular crustacean- like nninial of the genus T.imulus. also called "horseshoe' and 'helmet' crab. It is, with four other species living in the tropical regions of Eastern Asia from Japan to the East Indian Archipelago, the sole surviving representative of a large group (Merostomata, q.v.) which dates from Cambrian times. The king-crab of our north- eastern .merican coast is a large animal, some- times nearly two feet in length, in<lu<ling the caudal spine. Its body is formed of two regions, the head and abdomen or hindbody. the caudal spine being a moditicatioii of the ninth or last abdominal segment. The large, broad, lunate head is in general .shape like a horse's hoof ; hence the local name given the ani- mal. It is composed of six fused seg- ments, and bears six pairs of legs, ending in forceps, corre- sponding in position to the antenna', jaws, and maxilhc of the lobster or crab. On each side of the head are two compound eyes, lu- nate in shape, the surface of which is .smooth, while there is a pair of minute ventral view of limi'lua. simple eves situated a. «. appendages o( lieiul ; b. ' ' 1 • 1 c head ('buckler ); r, opercuhini, one on each side ot behind which arespeu the ntlier a low conical spine abdominal appendagen ; il, ab- in the middle near doni«n ; e, caudal spine or 't^-l- the front edge. The legs are armed on the basal joint with sharp spines pointing inward for retaining the food or jirey. The males differ from the females chietly in respect to the shape of the second pair of legs, which end in a swollen thumb (next to the last joint) and a slender finger (last joint). The alidonien consists of nine segments, which are dis- tinct in the larva, but which on hatching be- come fused together. It bears six pairs of broad, Apairnf (ibdominallegB. leaf-like feet, those of seen trcini beneath, show- each pair fused together 1,'imuVis. '"'"'"*""' '** "' along the median line, all but the first pair bearing on each side a set of about one hundred leaf-like, flat, thin, oval gills. The abdominal limbs of the first jniir arc called the 'operculum.' since they form a structure which overlaps the other ab- dominal legs, anil on the under side bears two papilhr out of which the eggs pass, or, in the male, the seminal fluid. The internal anatomy is remarkable for the shape of the nervous system, the brain being in front of the (lesophagus, which passes through a nerve-ring, which distributes nerves to the head-* appendages. The arteries are very numerous, dividing into numerous niieroscopic branches, while the nerve-ring and principal nerves are coated by an arterial membrane, so that the blood bathes the whole nervous system except the brain. Unlike the Crustacea, the female king-crab buries her eggs in the sand between tide-marks. DOOK-OILLS OF LI.MDLUS.
