118 



BIRDS IX THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



fare. The young are sometimes fed with small grasshoppers, 

 and these insects are a favorite item of food with the adult 

 birds. 



Like the yellow warbler, this species sometimes outwits the 

 cow-bird by its intelligence. Mr. A. W. Butler thus describes 

 the three-storied nest of a yellow-throat in his possession : 

 u In the original nest had been deposited the egg of a cow- 



BUTTKRFl.Y CAfGHT BY 



bird, then within that nest and rising above it the yellow-throat 

 had built another nest, which also became the depository of 

 the hope of offspring of this unnatural bird ; again the little 

 warbler constructed a third nest upon the other two, burying 

 the cow-bird's egg, and in this nest laid her complement of 

 eggs." 



These examples will suffice to make manifest the fact that 

 the warbler family is one of extraordinary economic value, the 

 members of which are immensely useful in checking noxious 

 insects and with very few exceptions have no injurious habits. 

 It is particularly gratifying that these charming birds, whose 

 song and plumage draw to them the good will of all intelli- 

 gent people, should show so well that utility and beauty are 

 not always dissociated. 



