43Q 



Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



Fig. 141. A pool on lower part of Sucker Brook, formed by encroaching 

 alders and fallen branches. Song Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows 

 are commonly singing in the alder thickets, and the pool is the home of the 

 Water-Thrush. 



thickets. Rusty Blackbirds, after their young are on the wing, spend 

 a great portion of the day there, where attractive food can be had 

 for the taking, and remain until they migrate southward in the 

 autumn. 



The Aspens and the Birds. The American aspen (Popnlus tre- 

 muloides) and the large-toothed aspen (Populus grandideiitata) 

 occur both in company and separately. In most of the Adirondack 

 region they are found chiefly in the sapling stage as components of 

 an aspen-fire cherry-birch association on burned areas. Along 

 rocky shores both aspens may attain a height of 50 or 60 feet. 

 Their seeds ripen and fall to the ground early in the spring and 

 apparently are not eaten by birds. The chief function of the aspens 

 is to afford a cover or screen for other trees more favored as nest- 

 ing sites. A birch, willow or maple sapling, growing amid aspens, 

 is a common nesting place, chosen apparently because so well hid- 

 den. As a screen for the fire cherry, on whose fruit most of the 

 birds of the Burn feed freely during its prime, the aspens play a 

 very useful part, for without their shelter the cherry would be less 

 freely patronized, especially by some of its visitors, notably the 

 Thrushes and others of a retiring disposition. Young aspens are 

 often attacked by the Sapsucker, which drills through the bark 

 usually just below the lowest branches of the trees. Such perfora- 



