ig6 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



homes in the country throughout the summer. They are very 

 active and sprightly birds, and well fitted for their work of 

 taking the eggs and larvae of pernicious insects from the buds 

 and leaves of our trees. Their adaptation to this use is very 

 noticeable in their elegantly formed, sharp bill. With it they 

 are capable of taking the smallest insect egg, and in doing this 

 they are of the very busiest of our insectivorous birds. They 

 not only destroy quantities of the smaller insects and their 

 larvae and eggs but also destroy many beetles. Prof. King 

 examined the stomachs of four birds taken between September 

 6 and 22 and found that all of their food, excepting a single 

 ant, consisted of beetles. One stomach contained ten of them. 

 The spng of this warbler is a very pleasing, simple "wee- 

 cher-wee, wee-cher-wee," often repeated. Mr. Vandyke inter- 

 prets it "witchery, witchery, witchery." Mr. Butler says "its 

 note seemed to run like 'a-wit, a-wit, a-wit, a-wit, a-wit' each 

 pair of syllables repeated five times with moderate rapidity 

 and in the same tone, with no inflection. Mr. Chapman says, 

 "its song 'wee-chee, chee, chee, chee-wee/ though simple has 

 a pleasing happy ring," and Mr. Marble says, "Sweet-sweet- 

 sweet, sweet, sweet-sweeter-sweeter' is his frequent contribu- 

 tion to the volume of nature." This is a fair illustration of 

 how variously different people interpret the song of a bird. In- 

 deed, as Mr. Stoddard says, 



"How songs are made 

 Is a mystery, 

 Which studied for years 

 Still baffles me." 



In the chapter on the Blue Jay I said they could commun- 

 icate with each other intelligently, and quoted from Mr. 

 Munte's letter in which he told about two jays flying away 

 from a fruitless attack on a screech owl and bringing back nine 

 others with which to renew the attack. Not only is this true 

 of the Blue Jays but of other species. In times of danger the 

 various species seem to understand each other, and will re- 

 spond to a danger call and come to the rescue of the bird or 

 birds that are in danger of being harmed. While tramping in 

 the thicket at Somerleaze one afternoon I found a young 



