142 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



garden for stra^vberries alone. They were never seen to 

 eat anything else while there, and, as they were about the 

 strawberry bed much of the time while the berries were 

 ripe, they nmst have eaten as many berries as all the robins, 

 for the robins only took strawberries occasionally. A })an 

 of water was set out near the strawberry bed, that the cat- 

 birds might have an opportunity to allay their thirst before 

 reaching the berries. They took no notice of this, as they 

 evidently i)referred strawberry juice. If driven away, they 

 would return inmiediately. They remained about the bed 

 until the berries had been picked, when they left at once, and 

 hardly visited the garden at all for the rest of the summer. 

 Were we to judge the catbird by this experience alone, we 

 must agree with those who consider it a pest. INIany people 

 have had somewhat similar experience with it. j\Iy expe- 

 rience with it in A^^orcester, however, was somewhat of a 

 contrast to this more recent acquaintance. There we raised 

 strawberries with little trouble from the catbirds that nested 

 near the garden, and were of considerable service in the 

 destruction of insect pests, notably the white grub. This 

 bird, however, is probably of much less service to the 

 farmer than many others, and is not to be compared with 

 the robin as a destroyer of garden insects. 



The vireos, redstarts and Avarblers, which bred in the 

 woods around the garden, occasionally came inside its 

 limits, but confined their attention mainly to the insects on 

 the fruit trees, so that, so far as could be seen, their pres- 

 ence in the garden had little or no eifect on the vegetables. 

 These birds were much of the time engaged in killing cater- 

 pillars of many species. They were so assiduous in this 

 that no serious injury was done by caterpillars to any of the 

 trees near by. Even the wild cherry trees, which are ordi- 

 narily stripped by the tent caterpillar, were left intact. 

 The vireos are probably among the most efficient caterpil- 

 lar hunters. The illustration showing the red-eyed vireo 

 feeding her young (Fig. 8) is introduced here to show 

 how the parent bird inserts her bill into the tliroat of the 

 3^oung, and thrusts the food down into the gullet. This 

 may be a necessary precaution, for living caterpillars some- 



