60 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



true Fly-catchers and the Sylvians, partake of some of the 

 habits of each ; and some of the species are remarkable for a 

 habit of singing while they are foraging. The warbling Vireo 

 seems, indeed, to make singing his principal employment ; he 

 is never apparently very diligent or earnest, and often stops in 

 the middle of a strain to seize a passing insect, and then 

 resumes it. All the true Fly-catchers, including the king-bird, 

 resemble the pewee in their general habits of foraging. 



Here, then, we observe several circles; the outer one occu- 

 pied by the true Fly-catchers, who sit in wait for all such insects 

 as discover themselves flitting among the foliage of the tree, or 

 outside of it ; the circle next the outside is occupied by the 

 Sylvians, who search for their food by creeping about among 

 the leaves and flowers ; and the inner circle by the creepers 

 and tomtits, or chickadees, that hunt the bark and incrustations 

 of the branches for their prey. Inside of this interior circle is 

 the space occupied by the woodpeckers, who live upon the larva 

 which is concealed in the solid substance of the wood and bark, 

 and lies beyond the reach of the creepers and chickadees, who 

 cannot bore into the wood. Lastly, outside of the outer circle 

 just described, is the space occupied by the swallows, who take 

 all their food while it is afloat in the atmosphere. 



The woodpeckers have a long tongue of great flexibility, and 

 a powerful beak. They have also a sagacious instinct that 

 directs them how to discover their prey, without the exercise of 

 their sight. They listen carefully for the scratching sounds of 

 the grub while it is gnawing the wood, and having determined 

 its exact location, they hammer upon the spot with their beak, 

 seize their victim, and draw him out with their long tongue. 

 The old birds are said to teach their young the art of hunting 

 this larva, and nature has made them very easy learners. By 

 the opposite arrangement of the fore and hind claws, these 

 birds arc enabled to climb a tree in all directions in search for 

 their prey. 



Woodpeckers live mostly in the forest, of which they are 

 the natural guardians ; and as the food of their choice is nearly 

 as abundant in winter as in summer, they are not generally 

 migratory. Hence the operations of these birds are incessant 

 throughout the year. As their food is not anywhere very 

 abundant, like that of some of the granivorous birds, wood- 



