The Birds' Calendar 



in his " Birds of New England," where in the 

 course of his remarks upon this point he says : 

 " The warblers capture the insects that prey 

 on the foliage of the trees ; the flycatchers 

 seize these insects as they fly from the trees ; 

 the swallows capture those that have escaped 

 all these ; the woodpeckers destroy them when 

 in the larva state in the wood ; the wrens, 

 nuthatches, titmice, and creepers eat the eggs 

 and young that live on and beneath the bark ; 

 but the thrushes subsist on those that destroy 

 the vegetation on the surface of the earth : 

 these seem designed by nature to rid the sur- 

 face of the soil of noxious insects not often pur- 

 sued by most other birds. They destroy near- 

 ly all kinds of grubs, caterpillars, and worms 

 that live upon the greensward and cultivated 

 soil, and large quantities of crickets and grass- 

 hoppers, before they have become perfect in- 

 sects. The grubs of locusts, of harvest-flies, and 

 of beetles which are turned up by the plough 

 or the hoe, and their pupae when emerging 

 from the soil; apple-worms, when they leave 

 the fruit, and crawl about in quest of new shel- 

 ter ; and those subterranean caterpillars, the 

 cut- worms that come out of the earth to take 

 their food all these and many others are 



