STATS POMOLOGICAIv SOCIETY. 65 



killoleet, and a more appropriate name could not be found. 

 The song is clear and very musical. Any one who plays can 

 easily reproduce it on the piano. Various interpretations are 

 Old-Savi-Pcabody-Peabody-Peabody, All-day-long-zvhittling- 

 ivhittling-zuhittling , My-ozvn-dear-Canada-Canada-Canada, and 

 O-hear-killoleet-killoleet-killoleet. 



And what claim does this songster have upon growers of 

 fruits, and why should he be protected and encouraged? If a 

 bird that devours tent caterpillars, plant lice, tussock moths, and 

 destructive beetles found on the trunks of our apple trees, does 

 not deserve a place in our hearts as a protector of fruits, the fact 

 that he also on occasions descends to the earth and searches for 

 ground beetles may throw the balance in his favor. 



The chipping sparrow, the companion of childhood, is a con- 

 stant worker in the garden, yard, and orchard. It is sometimes 

 called the hair bird from the long horse hairs used for lining its 

 nest, which is placed in a tree or vines near the house that no 

 time may be wasted in reaching its feeding ground. Next to 

 the robin, it is the most familiar of all our birds and often picks 

 up crumbs near our doors. Its song is a mere string of chip- 

 chip-chips with no more of music in it than there is in the 

 monotonous click click of a sewing machine. Its spring and 

 early summer food consists of caterpillars. So persistent is this 

 bird in its search for caterpillars that it interfered seriously with 

 experiments that were being made upon gypsy moths under 

 cover, by breaking through the net that inclosed them, and eat- 

 ing the larvae. Such persistence should be encouraged. The 

 chippy is no epicure in the matter of insect diet and devours the 

 brown-tail, tent caterpillars, tussocks, codling moth, forest tent 

 caterpillars, leaf eating beetles, cabbage worms, beet leaf grubs, 

 and other beetles of various kinds. Mr. Kirkland saw it eat 

 fifty-four canker worms for one meal. 



These food lists are made up from two sources : First, the 

 birds are carefully watched near enough at hand to render iden- 

 tification of the various articles of their diet positive ; second, 

 when the birds are so shy that their food cannot be made out by 

 observation, they are shot and their stomachs examined. The 

 stomachs of thirty-four thousand birds have been sent to the 

 Biological Survey at Washington, which maintains a depart- 

 ment solely for this work. I was in there one day to see Dr. 



