Warblers. This family contains a large number of species, among them 

 being some of our brightest colored and most interesting birds, though none of 

 them are remarkable as songsters. They are all entirely insectivorous, and con- 

 sequently of great value from an economic point of view. Thirty-one species are 

 known to occur in this Province ; of these five are so rare as to be considered acci- 

 dental visitors. They are the Prothonotary, the Golden- Winged and Hooded 

 Warblers, the Louisiana Water Thrush, and the Yellow-breasted Chat. Probably 

 when they do occur, they remain and breed here. The Cape May, Orange-crowned, 

 Tennessee, Cerulean, and Connecticut are regular but uncommon visitors. Of 

 these the Cerulean is known to breed in some localities in southern Ontario, but it 

 is not generally distributed. 



The Parula, Black-throated, Blue, Myrtle, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Bay- 

 breasted, Black poll, Palm and Wilson's Warblers all pass on to the north before 

 nesting. Just how far they go is difficult to say, but in all probability the major- 

 ity of them at any rate will be found breeding in the unsettled districts of Mus- 

 koka, Algoma, etc., and some even south of that. 



The Black and white, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Pine, Redstart, 

 Black-throated green, Oven bird, Water Thrush, Mourning, Maryland, and Cana- 

 dian Warblers, are generally distributed and breed with us in suitable localities 

 and in varying numbers each season, the most familiar of them all being the 

 Yellow Warbler which habitually raises its young in and about our orchards and 

 shrubberies. All through the summer they are actively engaged in exterminating 

 the hosts of our smaller insect enemies, and many thousands of broods of cater- 

 pillars are destroyed by them before they have become large enough to do mis- 

 chief. 



Flycatchers. These birds, as their name implies, subsist largely upon winged 

 insects, which they capture by darting upon them from some elevated post over- 

 looking an open space frequented by their prey. We have eight species, of which 

 the Crested Flycatcher, the King bird, the Phoebe bird, the Wood Peewee and the 

 Least Flycatcher are summer residents, and the Olive-sided, Yellow-bellied, and 

 Traill's Flycatcher are transient visitors, passing through in their spring and fall 

 migrations. 



The King bird is probably the most obtrusive creature of the whole feathered 

 tribe in Canada. As soon as a pair take possession of a tree in an orchard they 

 immediately proclaim the fact to the neighborhood, and then trouble befalls every- 

 thing wearing feathers that ventures to trespass on what they are pleased to con- 

 sider their domain. Crows, Hawks, Jays, and Blackbirds are their especial detes- 

 tation, and should one of these birds appear near their tree an attack by the King 

 birds immediately follows, the assault being kept up until the intruder is igno- 

 miniously driven off, having lost a few feathers in the encounter, the loss serving 

 to remind him that other people have rights which he is bound to respect. The 

 King bird captures a vast number of mature insects, both in the air and on the 

 ground, and as at least half these insects would produce eggs to become cater- 

 pillars the service rendered is very great. In the early spring, when driven by 

 hunger, the King bird will eat the berries of the sumach, but as the clusters of 

 these berries form a favorite hibernating place for many beetles, it is quite possi- 

 ble that the insects form the attraction and not the fruit. This is the only vege- 

 table substance I have ever known the bird to touch. I have heard complaints 

 from bee-keepers that these birds will destroy bees. It is just possible that they 

 will occasionally take them, but I have seen no evidence that they have acquired 

 the habit. In case the King birds should be seen frequenting the vicinity of 



