10 Bulletin 7 



THE RED-EYED VIREO— THE FARMER'S FRIEND. 



Miss Mabel E. Stevens, St. Johnsbury. 



\ The little red-eyed vireo of the roadside may truly be called the 

 farmer's friend. From their arrival in May to their departure in 

 October, they are constant hunters of all kinds of insects. The eggs 

 of the potato bug and the various kinds of caterpillars — the farmer's 

 enemies — are their favorite food, and they have no preference whether 

 they are raw or roasted, as I once saw them pick up some of the cater- 

 pillars that fell from a bui'nt nest. 



While watching a pair of the vireos one spring day, I discovered 

 that they were using the small new webs of the caterpillars in building 

 their nest, using it in place of mud or clay. The webs that began to 

 show signs of caterpillar life were used as an ever-ready restaurant. 

 However, their good work was not confined to this kind of game, for 

 they were frequent visitors to the rows of potatoes, peeping beneath 

 the leaves to find the eggs of the beetle which they ate with a relish. 

 Now and then they took a quick trip to the garden where a nice cab- 

 bageworm, a butterfly, a stray grub, or a few striped squash bugs 

 were quickly and quietly captured. They did not neglect a lone currant 

 bush at the edge of the garden, but gave it a thorough daily inspection. 



As I watched these little toilers, busy from early morn till night- 

 fall I thought what better friend or help could be asked by the farmer 

 or fruitgrower. 



BRINGING UP OF A CEDAR WAXWING. 

 Miss Emjia E. Dkew, Burlington. 



While my Uncle and I were in the Adirondacks last summer we 

 had the pleasure of bringing up by hand a cedar waxwing. It was 

 after a strong windstorm about August 1st that this little bird was 

 brought us by a man who had found it on the ground, evidently blown 

 away from his home and friends. 



At first we kept the bird in a little box with a twig thrust in for 

 a perch, and fed him bird cherries, flies and berries. It was great fun 

 to see him drink water from a medicine dropper. 



After a week Dick began to fly about a little. Every day he did 

 better than the dav before. Soon he flew from one to another of the 



