BIRDS, CATERPILLARS, AND PLANT LICE. 129 



carne about the same time as the Blackbirds, but I saw it for only a 

 short time; it took caterpillars and pupae. There were four Red-eyed 

 Yireos, but I saw them take only one caterpillar, and they were in the 

 place all the time that I was. There were also six Downy Wood- 

 peckers, but I did not see them take any caterpillars or pupae. A brood 

 of Chickadees was there all the time, and they took caterpillars and pupas 

 of the gipsy moth and some kind of a green caterpillar. They took all 

 their food from near the ground, and would pick the pupae and cater- 

 pillars open before eating them. There was a nest of the American 

 Redstart, and the tree had been stripped of leaves by the caterpillars. 

 There were four young birds in the nest. I saw the old birds take but 

 one very small gipsy moth caterpillar to the young, but they would pick 

 the large ones off the nest and drop them to the ground very often. 1 

 There were no pupae near the nest that I could see. Two Robins 

 came to the colony very often to get food for their young. I could not 

 tell how many they took with them each time, but should judge from 

 the cluster of caterpillars in the bill that there were as many as six. 

 The Robins took all the caterpillars from near the ground or from the 

 ground. I did not look for the Robins' nest, but could see the birds go 

 one hundred and twenty-five yards to a large maple tree, and I think 

 the nest was in this tree. One Blue Jay came, but stayed only a very 

 short time. It took two caterpillars, but, as they were in the tops of 

 trees, I was not sure that they were gipsy caterpillars. A brood of 

 Crows (four young and two old birds) came, and stayed till I moved, 

 and then left and did not come back. The}* came at 8 o'clock and 

 stayed until almost 9. They were all in the trees directly over me for 

 a long time ; at times they were within ten feet of me. They would 

 go to a cluster of pupae and caterpillars and eat some, but drop more 

 than the rate. I think they took more pupae than caterpillars, but took 

 a large number of caterpillars. The young birds took many more than 

 the old ones. The old birds left the place for a short time, but came 

 back. I think the six Crows took two hundred pupae while in sight. 

 Some of the time they took them as fast as a hen would pick up corn. 



After this time most of the smaller birds neglected the 

 hairy caterpillars to attack the cankerworms, which were 

 then becoming very prominent. When the cankerworms 

 had disappeared the larger species continued to feed on the 

 gipsy moth so long as it could be obtained. 



These observations were begun rather late in the season, 

 and the records kept by the observers were not very full, on 

 account of the pressure of other duties, which also limited 



1 Redstarts are among the most useful birds that eat the smaller caterpillars, 

 but at this season the larvae were nearly all too large for the bird to manage. 



