1883.] UTILITY OF BIRDS IN AGRICULTURE. 87 



brood of from four to six young. Kill off the nuthatches and our 

 forests will suffer correspondingly. In these days, when " forest 

 congresses " are in order, one of their first acts should be to pro- 

 tect the nuthatch. 



BLACK-CAPPED TITMOUSE, OR CHICADEE. 



Next to the nuthatch the chicadee, perhaps, claims our atten- 

 tion. This is one of the most active, busy, and cheery little fel- 

 lows of our woods during the summer or our gardens during the 

 colder parts of the year. They always associate more or less closely 

 with the nuthatches, and, in fact, resemble them greatly in habits, 

 though in spirits they are a miniature blue jay. Of a fine autumn 

 afternoon I have often amused myself by lying down in the woods 

 and noting the curiosity of these little fellows as they cautiously 

 approach and peer at one ! Be very careful, and one will finally 

 hop within a few inches of you, and, though watching with the 

 appearance of perfect confidence and familiarity, the least move- 

 ment of the body will send him off with a shrill dee ! dee ! dee ! 

 into the thicket beyond. Among themselves they fight incessantly, 

 and have been said to kill their weak and sickly birds in the nest. 

 They feed upon almost anything when driven by hunger, yet the 

 direct benefit they do the forests is only estimated by the immense 

 numbers of insect larvae consumed during the year. Their small 

 bill enters where that of the nuthatch cannot. In summer they 

 feed six to eight starving young ones, while they are constantly at 

 work to benefit rather than injure mankind ; therefore protect 

 them by all means. 



Although I have thus far purposely refrained from saying any- 

 thing about the woodpeckers, since the question of their usefulness 

 or uselessness seems to be a point of dispute by many of our 

 authorities, I find that in order to complete ray line of utility in 

 this particular direction I must refer to them for a moment only. 

 You are well aware that the smaller species of woodpeckers, 

 frequenting forest and garden trees, often perforate them with a 

 most complete network of holes — whether in search of insects or 

 their larvae, as is probable, or for the purpose of sucking the sap, 

 as has often been afiirmed, we cannot say here; the fact remains 

 the same. We know that they do do good in this way, in hunting 

 for insects and their larvae, which their extremely long, barbed 

 tongue is able to reach and hook out from a depth of several inches. 



