15-1 FORAGING HABITS OF BIRDS. 



diligence in hunting their prey. They have a peculiar 

 way of examining the foliage and blossoms rather than 

 the surface of the branches, and their motions are very 

 conspicuous upon the outer parts of the trees near the 

 extremity of the spray. The golden robin hunts his prey 

 like the sylvians, though he is not one of them, and his 

 motions are more rapid and energetic than theirs. 



The wren, the creeper, and the chickadee seek their 

 food while creeping round the branches, and take less of 

 it from the foliage than the sylvians or the flycatchers. 

 They seldom pause in their circuitous course, proceeding 

 usually from the junctions of the branches to their ex- 

 tremities, hopping from spray to spray, and then passing 

 to another tree. The sylvians appear to examine the 

 leaves and blossoms, while the creepers and tomtits exam- 

 ine the bark of the tree. Hence the former do not pro- 

 long their stay with us after the fall of the leaf, while the 

 other species are seen after the trees are entirely denuded. 

 We may infer, therefore, that the sylvians feed chiefly 

 upon beetles and other winged insects that devour the 

 leaves of trees, while the creepers and tomtits take more 

 insects in embryo, which during autumn and winter are 

 half concealed in the bark of trees. 



The habits of the flycatchers differ from those of any 

 of the species above named. Let us take the pewee as 

 an example. He sits on a twig almost without motion, 

 but with a frequent sideling of the head, indicating his 

 watchfulness. He does not seem so diligent as the sylvi- 

 ans, because he waits for his prey to come to him, and 

 seeks for it only by carefully awaiting its approach. 

 That he is not idle is shown by his frequent flitting out 

 in an irregular circuit, and immediately returning to his 

 perch with a captured insect. These salient flights are 

 very numerous, and he often turns a somerset in the act 

 of capturing his prey. He seldom misses his aim, and 



