UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



upon the buds of the birch, the apple, and other 

 trees. 



The flicker will thrive where other woodpeckers 

 would starve, because he is a ground-pecker as 

 well, and lives upon ants and other ground in- 

 sects. 



In the struggle for existence the red squirrel is 

 more than a match for his big brother, the gray, 

 because he is more energetic, and has a wider range 

 of diet. When hard put, he will come to your or- 

 chard and garden and chip up the unripe apples and 

 pears for the immature seeds in them; he will cut 

 out the germ from the green elm-flakes; he will rob 

 birds' nests of eggs and of young; he will find or cut 

 his way into your house and barn, and will take toll 

 of your crops in a way that the gray squirrel will not 

 do; on the other hand, his lesser brother the chip- 

 munk will survive him, because he regularly lays 

 up winter stores in his den in the ground, and is snug 

 and warm with a full larder, while the red squirrel 

 is picking up a precarious subsistence in the cold, 

 snow-choked woods. The bear lasts after the wolf 

 is gone, because he is a miscellaneous feeder, and is 

 rarely reduced to extremities. For the same reason 

 the hawk starves where the crow thrives. If the 

 crow cannot get flesh, he will put up with fruit, and 

 grain, and nuts. 



The flycatchers among our birds are far less nu- 

 merous than the fruit- and seed-eaters, and the her- 



86 



