33 



small strips, and seeded raisins. This bird also ate the fruit 

 of the spindle tree {Evonymus enroycea) Mrs. Arthur Caswell 

 reports that a mockingbird in Montague ate, in addition to 

 raisins and figs, dried raspberries and blueberries. At the 

 Arnold Arboretum the mockingbird feeds on small fruited 

 Chinese, or Siberian, crab apples and privet berries. 



Catbird. 



The catbird winters more rarely than the mockingbird in 

 JNIassachusetts, but it sometimes comes in summer to pick up 

 crumbs of suet. INIiss Mabel R. Wiggins feeds a pair of cat- 

 birds, by placing various edibles in the arbor at a back door. 

 She has seen them eat fried and boiled fish, bread, cold mush, 

 and boiled potato. At that season a brush heap, some tall, 

 dense shrubbery, plenty of water to drink, and a large straw- 

 berry bed are almost sure to bring the birds. Catbirds, robins, 

 vireos and a few other species will use strips of paper in nest 

 building. 



Brown Thrasher. 



This fine songster is naturally rather shy, and prefers the 

 back pasture to the neighborhood of the farmhouse, but a few 

 brush heaps, some thick, thorny shrubbery, and some oats scat- 

 tered about the dooryard or garden in early spring may induce 

 him to leave his retirement and take up a residence near the 

 house. This bird winters verv rarelv. Colonel John E. Thaver 

 fed a brown thrasher during the hard winter of 1917-18, and it 

 lived through the winter, on hempseed chiefly; sometimes it ate 

 suet. Dr. Foot has seen the thrasher feed on bread crumbs 

 placed in boxes on posts at Dublin, New Hampshire, where it 

 fed crumbs to its young. INIiss Wiggins saw one eat dried 

 apple at a feeding table. 



House Wren. 



This vivacious little bird is attracted by nesting places in 

 hollow apple trees or by wren boxes put up for it. A plethora 

 of boxes is needed, as sometimes a single pair will build three 

 or more nests. House wrens have increased much in numbers 

 in the past few years, since the number of nesting boxes has 

 been increased in New York and New England. 



