154 



THE OOLOGIST. 



much of the dash of a typical Flycatcher. 

 I have seen a Waxwing perched on the 

 topmost bough of a tree fly up and catch 

 a score of insects inside of a very few 

 minutes. In these movements it some- 

 what resembles the actions of the Red- 

 head Woodpecker in that it nearly al- 

 ways flew almost straight up and then 

 returned to almost the identical perch; 

 but it is more graceful as a Flycatcher 

 than the Woodpecker. 



The Great Northern Shrike and our 

 common White-rumped Shrike are the 

 Hawks of the hedge-row and their dash 

 and pertinacity are equal to the actions 

 of the larger predacious birds. A Shrike 

 rarely, if ever, captures a bird upon the 

 wing; at least I have never witnessed 

 the act and I consider them slow upon 

 the wing. But they are great at strategy 

 and frighten their intended victims so 

 that they fall an easy prey. I have wit- 

 nessed a capture where the Shrike had 

 chased a Sparrow intv^ an osage orange 

 hedge and then tried to seize the tremb- 

 ling creature. Each time the Shrike 

 made a dash the Sparrow would slip 

 through the hedge to the other side and 

 escape for a time; but it did not dare to 

 leave its place of comparative safety, 

 though I doubt not that it could have 

 escaped by straight away flight. This 

 game of hare and hound had continued 

 quite a time, when the Shrike's mate 

 appeared upon the scene and made a 

 dive at the beleaguered Vesper Sparrow 

 on the opposite side of the hedge. Two 

 enemies were more than the distressed 

 and rattled bird could manage and it 

 quickly fell a victim to the rapacious 

 pair which had a nestful of young near 

 at hand. 



The Vireos are graceful feeders and 

 very deliberate in their movements. 

 They have no dash in capturing an in- 

 sect and depend more on the smaller 

 larval prey, which is picked from the 

 leaves and twigs with a coy movement, 

 which is amusing. Often the move- 

 ments of a feeding Vireo are quite simi- 



lar to those of a parrot on its perch. 



All of the Warblers are given to catch- 

 ing their prey upon the wing at times, 

 though most of them are mainly glean- 

 ers among the twigs and leaves, while , 

 the Water Thrushes often wade about in 

 the shallow pools for food and the Oven- 

 bird occasionally scratchas after the 

 manner of the Towhee. The Redstart 

 dashes about among a flock of mosqui- 

 toes like a typical Flycatcher. I have 

 seen the Pine Warbler dash out for an 

 insect while it was singing in the top of 

 a tall pine. The Hooded Warbler is an- 

 other species which is expert at flycatch- 

 ing. 



The Catbird occasionally captures an 

 insect upon the wing as do also the 

 Brown Thrasher and Robin, while the 

 Swainson's, Hermit and Wilson's Thrush- 

 es are quite persistant in aerial forays, 

 though all these birds are generally 

 found feeding on the ground. The 

 Robin's habit of dragging eaath worms 

 from their holes is well known and we 

 have all watched the struggles of the 

 captor and captive. Once I observed a 

 Robin engaged in fishing. The spot 

 was in the woods where a little brook 

 swirled about the root-lined banks and 

 made little eddies at the bends. In a 

 shallow place the Robin was catching 

 tiny minnows and appeared to follow 

 the sport simply for the fun of it. There 

 were a dozen little tish lying on the 

 muddy edge and as I watched the fish- 

 erman twitched another minnow not 

 over an inch and a half long from the 

 water. 



The House Wren sometimes catches 

 an insect flying, but this species as well 

 as all the others of the familv mainly 

 depends on hunting its food in the 

 nooks and crevices, though the Long- 

 billed Mtirsh Wren feeds from the water 

 among the cattails and marsh debris. 



The Brown Creeper is an interesting 

 feeder and we marvel as we see the del- 

 icate creation creeping about the bark 

 that this mite can sustain life from these 



