THE MUSEUM. 



27 



sisted of the early gnats which were 

 flying on bright sunny days. In early 

 April they had nearly deserted the 

 meat, although they still frequented 

 the orchard in search of the female 

 canker-worm moths. They seemed 

 to prefer animal food to all other, and 

 even in cold weather would hardly 

 notice grain or seeds of any kind, 

 though one individual ate a few oat 

 kernals which were placed near his ac- 

 customed feed of meat. 



Towards the last of April the En- 

 glish or House Sparrow {Passer do- 

 incsticns) began to make its appear- 

 ance in the vicinity and apparently 

 drove the Chickadees to the woods, as 

 they disappeared and did not nest in 

 the orchard, but remained in the 

 woods, where they paired and nested. 



I believe that the English Sparrow 

 is largely responsible for the fact that 

 Chickadees are not now found nesting 

 in our orchards. Though they still 

 nest in the orchards on the remoter 

 farms and in the villages where the 

 English Sparrow is not numerous, they 

 seem to have disappeared in summer 

 from orchards near cities. At the 

 time of the advent of the Sparrow in 

 this locality, twenty-five years ago, 

 Chickadees were often found nesting 

 in old apple-trees in the orchards in 

 this region where now scarcely any 

 are to be seen in orchards during the 

 summer. 



In the latter part of April and in 

 early May the tent caterpillars made 

 appearance on the apple and cherry 

 trees in the neighborhood. Canker- 

 worms were also numerous on the ap- 

 ples and elms and appeared in some 

 of the other trees. It was noticed, 

 however, that while trees in neighbor- 

 ing orchards were seriously infested 



with canker-worms and to a less de- 

 gree with tent caterpillars, those in 

 the orchard which had been frequent- 

 ed by the Chickadees during the win- 

 ter and spring were not seriously in- 

 fested and that comparatively few of 

 the worms and caterpillars were to be 

 found there. 



With the warm south winds of May, 

 many summer birds came and settled 

 in the neighborhood, and prepared to 

 build their nests, among which the 

 following were seen: Chickadee {Par- 

 its atricapilhis). Tree Sparrow {Spi- 

 :~clla inonticola). Crow {Corvus anicr- 

 icaniis), Purple Crackle {Qidscalus 

 qiiisciila), Flicker {Colaptes auratus), 

 Red-winged Blackbird {Agelaius phcc- 

 iiicci/s), Robin (JVPerula migratoria), 

 Chipping Sparrow {Spizclla socialis), 

 Ovenbird {Schm-us aitrocapillus),^ ooA. 

 Thrush {Tnrdus vtustciimts), Catbird 

 {Galcoscoptes cnrolincnsis). Brown 

 Thrasher {Harporliynchus r?ifiis), 

 Black-billed Cuckoo {Coccyzus cry- 

 tliroptltalmus). Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 

 {Cuccy::us aincricaniis .'BlackandWhite 

 Warbler {Mniotilta varia). Yellow 

 ^'ax\i\&x{Dendroica wstiva), Chestnut- 

 sided Wax\)\ex{Dcudroica pciinsylvani- 

 c«),Black-throatedGreenWarbler(Z?£'«- 

 droica vireiis), Pine Warbler {Dciidro- 

 ica z'igorsii), House Wren {Troglo- 

 dytes ivdon), American Redstart {Seto- 

 phaga niticilld), Nashville Warbler 

 {Hclminthophila riificapilld). Golden- 

 winged Warbler {Helniinthophila 

 cJirysoptcrd), Scarlet Tanager {Piran- 

 ga erythromelas), Rose-breasted Gros- 

 beak {Hixbia liidoviciand), Baltimore 

 Oriole {Icterus galbuld), Blue Jay 

 {Cyanocitta cristata), Least Flycatch- 

 er {Empidonax viiniimis). Wood Pe- 

 wee {Cant opus virens), Phcebe {Savor- 

 nis p/uvbc). Kingbird ( Tyr annus tyran- 



