jyS Birds in a City [FIRST WEEK 



take a peep into the nest when the young hummingbirds 

 are only partly grown, we shall see that their bills are 

 broad and stubby, like those of the swifts. Their home, 

 however, is indeed a different affair, a pinch of plant- 

 down tied together with cobwebs and stuccoed with li- 

 chens, like those which are growing all about upon the 

 tree. If we do not watch the female when she settles to 

 her young or eggs we may search in vain for this tiniest 

 of homes, so closely does it resemble an ordinary knot on 

 a branch. 



The flycatchers are well represented in the Park, there 

 being no fewer than five species; the least flycatcher, wood 

 pewee, phosbe, crested flycatcher, and kingbird. The first 

 two prefer the woods, the phcebe generally selects a mossy 

 rock or a bridge beam, the fourth nests in a hollow tree 

 and often decorates its home with a snake-skin. The 

 kingbird builds an untidy nest in an apple tree. Our 

 American crow is, of course, a member of this little com- 

 munity of birds, and that in spite of persecution, for in 

 the spring one or two are apt to contract a taste for young 

 ducklings and hence have to be put out of the way. The 

 fish crow, a smaller cousin of the big black fellow, also 

 nests here, easily known by his shriller, higher caw. A 

 single pair of blue jays nest in the Park, but the English 

 starling occupies every box which is put up and bids fair 

 to be as great or a greater nuisance than the sparrow. 

 It is a handsome bird and a fine whistler, but when we 

 remember how this foreigner is slowly but surely elbowing 

 our native birds out of their rightful haunts, we find our- 

 selves losing sight of its beauties. The cowbird, of course, 



