BIRDS OF PEASEMARSH 



The Swifts are enough like the Goatsuckers 

 to pass for cousins any day. But we have al- 

 ready read of them and their homes in our 

 chimneys. The Hummingbird, however, is a 

 very tiny relative of the Goatsucker, though it 

 has the same distinctive characteristic of being 

 constantly on the wing. Its diminutive nest is 

 plastered on the horizontal branch of a tree, 

 and is so grey and brown and green that one 

 may look straight at it without seeing it. Little 

 Rubythroat is always with us in apple blossom 

 time. We hope to give him a little more at- 

 tention, arranging to have a succession of 

 bloom at his disposal so that he will always 

 be a summer tenant. 



CUCKOOS 



The Cuckoos are birds whose good deeds, 

 opening leaves and buds bring to mind. These 

 slender, long-tailed birds clear the trees of a 

 vast number of caterpillars. We have no other 

 bird in the orchard that will devour the hairy 

 caterpillar when full grown. 



Two Cuckoos come to the orchard every 

 spring, the yellow-billed and black-billed; 

 apart from this difference they are very much 

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