354 



AMERICAN ORNl THOLOGY. 



food. Caterpillars, plant lice and ants, formed the greater portion of 

 the food brought, while the birds were under observation. Grasshop- 

 pers and spiders were occasional- 

 ly noted. The birds made fre- 

 quent trips to two young apple 

 trees, which were much infested 

 by plant lice and in a short time 

 they practically cleaned the trees^ 

 which have since done finely, 

 while two young cherry trees, at a 

 distance from the house, and not 

 visited by the birds, have since 

 died, apparently from the effects 

 of injuries to the twigs and foli- 

 age by another, but similar, species, 

 of plant louse. An apple tree 

 near by contained a nest of the 

 tent caterpillar, but the young 

 caterpillars never grew large 

 enough to do any material injury 

 to the foliage, so closely were 

 they pursued by the Chickadees 

 and a pair of Bluebirds that occu- 

 pied a box on the apple tree. 

 Canker worms and other geomet- 

 rid larvae were cleaned from the 

 near-by trees, most of them going 

 the same road, down the throats 

 of the eager and expectant young- 

 sters in the bird boxes. 



The young birds grew in grace, 

 beauty, and strength, until on 

 June 7th the stronger ones be- 

 gan to manifest signs of a dis- 

 position to explore the outer 

 world. One in particular stood 

 up, fluttered its wings and leaped 

 repeatedly upward toward the 

 entrance. 



FATHER COMES. On the 8th the editor of this 



magazine was notified that the subjects were ready to "have their pictures 

 taken" and could not wait. Mr. Reed replied promptly and was at 

 hand with his camera on the morning of the 10th. 



