126 Our Bird Friexds. 



passed ; and when the Wheatears Avere driven back 

 upon Beetles and Caterpillars, their visits with food 

 fell by nearly haU". 



A pair of Redstarts nestinn- in a link' in a bank 

 close by never exceecb'd twriity-fonr ex<-ursions 

 with food per hour, and the foiiiab.- made two 

 Journeys to the males one. TIk-v connnenred th» ir 

 labours at a (piarter to four in the nmrning, and 

 kept them up until nine o'clock at lULrht. 



On another occasion I watched the parents of 

 a brood of seven or ci«^dit youni,^ iJhie Tits iced 

 their otl'spriuL,^ for the best part of a day. and 

 their industry simply astonished me. In the 

 afternoon, the liirds entered the hollow iree. in 

 Avhicli they bad ibeir fnuily. witb fnul no less 

 than six times in the s[)ace ot' ti\e minutes — 

 that is, of c(^urse. count iuL,^ the journeys of both 

 the father and motber. Tliev L;-enerally bad two 

 or more small green catcr[)illars in I heir bills each 

 time they came along. Tins was in .June, wben 

 birds are able to. and as a matter ot" I'act do, work 

 sixteen or seventeen boms a day. and atnr nla]^ing 

 all allowances for rest, their own meals, and occasional 

 rather lengthy journeys and searches after prey, we 

 may safely conclude that tbe two birds destroyed a 

 thousand caterpillars a day. 



Tbe parents ot" the pair of baby Crested Tits 

 ti-ured on the opposite })age were most inchistrious 

 in their search after food wlierewitli to supply the 

 wants of these and otber leathered bairns. 1 have 



