128 USEFUL BIRDS. 



ated near the woods, in fact, there are woods on both sides, and no 

 houses near. The following birds were seen in the orchard during the 

 forenoon : Crow, Blue Jay, Ked-winged Blackbird, Yellow Warbler, 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Maryland Yellow- 

 throat, Bobolink, Indigo Bird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Goldfinch, 

 Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Kingbird, Brown Thrush, Catliird, 

 Robin, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Manager, and Black-billed Cuckoo. 

 A Black-billed Cuckoo came to the orchard and ate twenty-seven canker- 

 worms in two minutes ; he remained over half an hour, and part of the 

 time was eating much faster than when T counted. A Grosbeak came 

 and ate both cankerworms and birch aphids. A pair of Song Sparrows 

 were carrying cankerworms to their young. A male Oriole came a long 

 distance to the orchard, for when he had got some cankerworms in his 

 bill he would start across the woods in a straight line, flying out of sight ; 

 he would come back in about half an hour. The Red-winged Black- 

 birds came to the orchard from a swamp nearly half a mile away, and 

 ate the cankerworms and carried them to their young. A Catbird 

 came occasionally and ate cankerworms, then would go and perch in 

 the alders beneath which his mate was sitting on her eggs, and sing 

 with all his might. I saw a Chimney Swift taking plant lice on the 

 wing. 



Oil Julj^ 9, 1898, Mr. Bailey made some interesting early 

 morning notes on birds feeding on the gipsy moth. These 

 are quoted below : — 



I left Maiden for Medford at 3.30 a.m., and went to Forest Street, 

 Medford. I arrived there at 4 a.m., and there were some birds in the 

 place then. The first bird that I saw eating the gipsy caterpillars was 

 the Red-winged Blackbird. The Blackbirds came in almost at the same 

 time that I arrived, and they stayed until 6 o'clock, then left and did not 

 come back. I could not tell how many caterpillars were eaten by these 

 birds, but they took them very often, both the large and the small ones. 

 I saw them take no pupa?. All the caterpillars were taken from the tops 

 of the trees. I did not see the birds come near the ground. There were 

 seven Baltimore Orioles, and they were eating caterpillars all the time 

 from 4.30 until 8 ; then they stoi)ped eating, but did not go outside the 

 woods. As nearly as I could judge, the Orioles did not jnck out small 

 caterpillars, but took as large ones as there were. I did not see them 

 take any pupae . The Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos were there 

 all the time that I was. They did not take the caterpillars as often as 

 did the other birds. Those that they did take were picked from the 

 trunk of the tree or from the ground ; they went very little to the tops 

 of the trees. Pui^oe were eaten by these birds. I could get within ten 

 feet of them very often. The Blackbirds and Orioles ate more cater- 

 pillars than the other birds. There was one Catbird in the woods; it 



