January, 1919] 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



125 



boil over with bubbling song with notes falling over 

 each other in an attempt to get all out at once. It 

 is a prying little busybody and not a nook or cor- 

 ner escapes its small inquisitive eyes and very little in 

 the insect line its sharp, delicately tapered bill. 

 Through the currant bushes it climbs and peers 

 under every leaf, along every twig, then into the 

 raspberry patch, down through the trellis and into 

 the dark recesses of the phlox and larkspurs. The 

 fence next receives its attention and every crack and 

 joint is examined. Perpendiculars and horizontals, 

 right side up and upside down are all one to it, 

 gathering a worm here, a caterpillar there and 

 spiders everywhere; and as it goes it scatters its 

 bubbling song all over the garden. A flutter- 

 budget and a Paul Pry, a busybody and a scold, 

 but withal an important ally of the gardener. 



I wish this were all I could say of it, but candor 

 makes me issue a note of warning. If there 

 are other small birds nesting near-by, watch the 

 Wren closely. It is also a serious mischief-maker. 

 This may be a trait of individuals, as there are 

 rascals in all stations and walks of life. I hope it is, 

 for Wrens have been known on more than one oc- 

 casion to steal into the nests of other birds and 

 puncture the eggs there. They do not eat the eggs, 

 but seem to destroy them out of pure gnomish mal- 

 iciousness. One is in a quandary whether to admire 

 the little indefatigable caterpillar destroyer and 

 merry songster or to wage war on it as a wanton 

 destroyer and an enemy to husbandry. 

 TREE SWALLOAX. 



The Tree Swallow is dressed in a panoply of 

 gleaming steel and white. All above is iridescent 

 black with snowy white below. The female is 

 similar, but with colours less pure and gleaming. 

 Normally the Tree Swallow nests in old wood- 

 pecker-holes, in dead trees, preferably overhanging 

 water, but always in the open. Its sweet little "chiuh 

 a chinl^", like water dripping into a quiet pool, is a 

 pleasant sound and the gleam of its wings in the 

 bright sun adds a most attractive presence to the 

 garden. It has no bad faults that I have dis- 

 covered and the number of insects it takes is con- 

 siderable. The house should be on a pole in the 

 open and from ten to fifteen feet up, though greater 

 heights are not necessarily objected to and the box 

 can often be set up from the house top if no more 

 intimate situation is available. 



BLUEBIRD. 



John Burroughs has described the Bluebird (the 

 eastern species) as "The sky above and the earth be- 

 neath", and the description fits it perfectly. All above 

 is iridescent cerulean blue and the throat, breast 

 and most below dull earthy red "the good red 

 earth". It is another bird above reproach and the 



brilliant coat of the male, its mate's more subdued 

 colours, its pensive notes, ''purity, purity," and its 

 modest liquid warble are additions to any land- 

 scape. Its nest requirements are quite similar to 

 those of the Tree Swallow, except that it does not 

 nest as high, often occupying holes in old fence posts 

 not five feet from the ground and it is not specially 

 partial to the vicinity of water. I advise every one 

 to get a Bluebird to nest in the garden whenever 

 possible. I have not succeeded in doing this yet, but 

 in the less urban situations it should not be a difficult 

 species to entice. 



CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 

 About the size of a sparrow but with a longer 

 tail. Wood browns above with a slightly reddish 

 tail, grey throat and breast, and pale lemon yellow 

 below; sexes alike, combined with a number of 

 peculiar but not inharmonious whistles, these are the 

 characteristics of the Crested Flycatcher. It is not 

 very often that it comes to nesting boxes, but the un- 

 expected sometimes happens and the writer has had 

 this bird in his garden for two years not consecu- 

 tively. The first year of the Martin colony, when it 

 consisted of only a single pair. Crested Flycatchers 

 occupied the wing of the house opposite the Martins. 

 Battles royal occurred constantly, but one was as 

 stubborn as the other and both remained. With a 

 larger colony of Martins the Flycatchers would have 

 stood little chance. The Flycatcher's box should be 

 ten to twenty feet up and if it is partly sheltered by 

 trees as on the edge of a grove it will more closely 

 approximate the natural habitat. 



FLICKER. 

 The Flicker is a woodpecker and about as large 

 as a robin. Valuable for itself it is still further 

 useful as a provider of nesting holes for innumer- 

 able other birds. In fact the greater number of our 

 hole-nesting birds, unable to excavate for them- 

 selves, are largely dependent upon holes made and 

 abandoned by the Flicker. A Flicker box should 

 closely approximate the nest he makes for himself 

 the Berlepsch type hollowed cut of a section of 

 solid wood is the best. He is perfectly able to make 

 his home for himself and is, therefore, not bound to 

 accept such makeshifts as other species are some- 

 times forced to put up with. It will be noticed by 

 referring to the drawings that the cavity is gourd 

 or flask-shaped with a round bottom. This type is 

 not difficult to make. A section of natural trunk 

 is first split and the two halves hollowed out with 

 chisel and gouge to match and then firmly nailed 

 together. A board on the top forms an entrance 

 shelter and prevents rain from draining down the 

 joint. The nest should be placed rather high, pref- 

 erably facing outward from the edge of a tree or 

 trees. 



