FIRST WEEK] July 179 



imposes her eggs upon many of the smaller species of birds, 

 while our beautiful purple grackle, meadow lark, red- 

 winged blackbird, and the Baltimore and orchard orioles 

 rear their young in safety. The cardinal, scarlet tanager, 

 indigo bunting, and rose-breasted grosbeak form a quartet 

 of which even a tropical land might well be proud, and 

 the two latter species have, in addition to brilliant plu- 

 mage, very pleasing songs. Such wealth of aesthetic 

 characteristics are unusual in any one species, the wide- 

 spread law of compensation decreeing otherwise. More 

 sombre hued seed-eaters which live their lives in the Park 

 are towhees, swamp, song, field, and chipping sparrows. 

 The bank and barn swallows skim over field and pond all 

 through the summer, gleaning their insect harvest from 

 the air, and building their nests in the places from which 

 they have taken their names. The rare rough-winged 

 swallow deigns to linger and nest in the Park as well as 

 do his more common brethren. 



The dainty pensile nests which become visible when 

 the leaves fall in the autumn are swung by four species 

 of vireos, the white-eyed, red-eyed, warbling, and yellow- 

 throated. Of the interesting and typically North Amer- 

 ican family of wood warblers I have numbered no fewer 

 than eight which nest in the Park; these are the redstart, 

 the yellow-breasted chat, northern yellow-throat, oven- 

 bird, the yellow warbler, blue-winged, black-and-white 

 creeping warblers, and one other to be mentioned 

 later. 



Injurious insects find their doom when the young house 

 and Carolina wrens are on the wing. Catbirds and robins 



