in your locality will be received with thanks. No information is too 

 little to be of value. I hope to receive from you soon any notes you 

 may possess regarding the subject, and I trust you will make it a special 

 study this season and thereby gain much valuable information — at the 

 close of the season sending me the notes taken. 



Thanking you in advance, I am. Yours very truly, 



Henry C. Higgins, Cincinnatus, N. Y. 



FOOD AND SONG DIVISION. 



The work on Food and Song has been left to the General Chairman, 

 to whom the results of all investigations should be sent. 



In determining the food of the several species of Warblers there is 

 opportunity for great practical usefulness. The stomachs of all birds 

 killed should be carefully examined, and a record of the contents made. 

 The more careful the records the better. General statements are of little 

 value. 



Feeding habits are always interesting. Do the birds catch the insects 

 on the wing, glean from leaves, pry into bark crevices, or glean from the 

 ground ? What is the proportion of eggs, larvas, and adult insects taken 

 as food ? How many insects of a given size are eaten by one bird in a 

 given time ? What kind of insects are preferred as food ? Such ques- 

 tions, with many more, are awaiting answers. 



In addition to descriptions of songs, either graphically or in words or 

 by musical notation, the committee desires information regarding the 

 diurnal period of song. How many and what hours of the day does the 

 species sing ? Does it ever sing at night ? How do weather and tempera- 

 ture effect the singing ? Is the mating song different from the ordinary 

 song ? How much, if any, do the transient species sing during their mi- 

 grations ? How many and what weeks do the summer resident species 

 sing ? Why do they cease singing ? These questions may serve as an 

 illustration of what is wanted for this report. Any notes of any kind 

 will be welcome. 



THE FLICKER. 



The special work on the Flicker conducted by Mr. Frank L. Burns, 

 Berwyn, Pa., is being rapidly pushed forward. There is need for more 

 notes relating to excavation for the nest, choice of trees, period of incu- 

 bation, and relations of the sexes in excavation and incubation. Any 

 notes about the young birds before they leave the nest and the length of 



