A M lL'ICAN ohm 'J' J I (J LO GY 



387 



I believe it is as yet an undecided question whether the Chipmunks 

 to any great extent, trouble breeding birds, but I hold the opinion that 

 they are responsible for the loss of a great deal of bird life. At any 

 rate, nearly all birds seem to regard them as their enemies and fre- 

 quently attack them when they are found among the branches of a tree, 

 as they very frequently are. 



Both the male and female Downy would enter and leave the nest 

 without regard to us, even though we were standing nearly within 

 arm's reach of the hole. Consequently we were easily enabled to get a 

 large series of photos, some of which are reproduced here. The adults 

 made trips alternately at intervals of about every five minutes, one 

 generally remaining in the nest until the other had arrived, when the 

 one who was within would come out with a rush, entirely frustrating all 

 my attempts to get a picture of both birds at the same time, one cling- 

 ing to the tree and the other just coming out of the hole. Nearly al- 

 ways the birds would bring only what they could conveniently carry in 

 their beaks, but occasionally one would make a "strike" somewhere 

 and return with a large mass of white grubs and insects protruding from 

 his bill. 



Fho'.o from life. 



HOUSE WREN. 



