104 Wild Bird Guests 



the sentinel returns to his post with the insect 

 inside. Perhaps no flycatcher is better known or 

 better loved than our common phoebe, whose 

 return in the spring is a pretty sure sign of mild 

 weather or at least the approach of it. Ninety- 

 three per cent, of this bird's food consists of 

 insects, and the remainder of wild fruit. It rears 

 two broods of young each year and as there are 

 often five birds to each brood, the amount of food 

 consumed is very great. There is always a nest 

 under the roof of our piazza, and we should miss 

 the birds in more ways than one if they did not 

 come. In the first place we should miss their 

 cheery companionship. We should also miss 

 our customary freedom from annoyance by flies 

 and mosquitoes, for which we are indebted to 

 the phoebes and a few other birds. And it 

 should be remembered that birds which destroy 

 house flies probably destroy the typhoid germs 

 they may be carrying, and that birds which 

 destroy mosquitoes may be freeing us from the 

 dangers of malaria. I am inclined to think that 

 birds have not yet received the credit due them 

 as preventers of disease. The kingbird has 

 still another claim upon us. This handsome 

 flycatcher is one of the best of all guardians of the 

 poultry yard. If a pair of kingbirds make their 

 nest on some pear or apple tree in the orchard or 



