19 



row. ' 'And for this blessing may the 

 Lord make us truly thankful." 



For many years I had 1 a great deal of 

 respect for the smaller brother of the 

 northern shrike and championed the 

 cause of the loggerhead against many 

 an opponent. But he broke faith with 

 me when, on collecting a specimen near 

 Toronto, I discovered that he had been 

 dining on a Savannah sparrow, having 

 the remains of the bird in his beak when 

 collected. Though this threw somewhat 

 of a pall over my former respect for 

 him, I refused to pass judgment upon 

 the species because of the depraved in- 

 dividual. I 'pursued my investigations 

 more vigorously, but not again did I 

 discover any trace of the cannibalistic 

 propensities and consider that his work 

 of destruction among injurious insect 

 life is worthy of our commendation. 



Similarly, as with the swallows, we 

 may raise no argument regarding the 

 beneficial character of the two succeed- 

 ing groups, the vireos and warblers, if 

 we hold that the exclusive insect diet is 

 a beneficial character. 



From dawn's awakening till the shades 

 of night close round departing day these 

 gems of avian production industriously 

 and assiduously pursue Hieir insect prey 

 among the tree tops, about the branches 

 and trunks and upon the ground. The 

 warblers are specifically the most nu- 

 merous group, and many species of both 

 both groups are abundant in individuals. 

 the amount of insect destruction carried 

 on is very large. 



Considerable criticism has been in- 

 dulged in with reference to the virtues 

 of our two beautiful songsters, the cat- 

 bird and brown thrasher. Like the wax- 

 wing, they are accused of appropriating 

 a share of the fruit they have labored to 

 protect, and we cannot say that they are 

 not justified. The remedy of this evil 

 is simple, and, if followed by horticul- 

 turists, will save to them their cultivated 

 fruits. It is well known that all these 

 fruit-eating birds prefer wild varieties, 

 so that if wild cherries, grapes, dogwood 

 and elder are encouraged about the fruit 

 fauns the birds will be content to con- 

 tinue their insect destruction and accept 

 the wild fruit as their reward. The 

 Russian mulberry is a hardy prolific 

 fruit tree, easily cultivated, and its fruit 

 is a decided favorite among fruit-eating 

 birds. 



Whatever our difference of opinion re- 

 garding the catbird and thrasher, we 



House Wreu. 



(Troglodytes 



aeden.) i 



can have no such difference toward the 

 wien. Whether or not his feeding hab- 

 its are generally known, he is certainly 

 a general favorite because of his spright- 

 ly disposition, but if you set out to in- 

 vestigate the character of his food you 

 will be amazed at the 

 quantity disposed of and 

 the very injurious char- 

 acter of it. He takes a 

 mixture of bugs, beetles 

 and caterpillars three 

 times a day and feeds 

 heavily between meals. 

 The character of the life 

 destroyed is the most 

 destructive and consists 

 of evil-smelling plant bugs, weevils, 

 wood-borers, leaf and click beetles, and 

 the caterpillars are of the cabbage worm 

 tribe. With a family of seven or eight 

 hungry wrenlets to supply we are con- 

 strained to bow to this diminutive, irre- 

 pressible as the prince of agricultural 

 benefactors and surround him with the 

 halo of public regard and protection. 



We next deal With four companion 

 groups, all among the 

 smallest of our small 

 birds which associate to- 

 gether both at their 

 breeding homes and in 

 their travels. The 

 chickadees, nuthatches, 

 creepers and kinglets are 

 all entirely insectivorous, 

 but attract our attention 

 less than the wren, be- 

 cause they are not a s 

 Brown Creeper. , .-i • , 



(Certhia familiar- constantl y associated 

 is amerlcana.; with our civilization. 

 They are, nevertheless, 

 not lacking in interest and constitute a 

 foraging party of considerable import- 

 ance, as they travel together in small 

 flocks at all seasons, except the reason 

 of nesting. The creepers and nut- 

 hatches scour the trunks while the 

 kinglets and chicka- 

 d e e s explore the 

 branches and folded 

 leaves for the lurk- 

 ing insect or its hid- 

 den larvae. 



The last group to 

 be considered is the 

 thrushes and their 

 claim as beneficial 

 agents lies mainly in 

 their efforts as for- 

 est protectors, as all, 

 save the robin and bluebird, are mainly 



White-breasted 



Nuthatch. 

 (Sitta canadensis.) 



