84 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



safe retreats in the trunks of trees, have usually but 

 a single brood. If tlie bobolink reared two broods, 

 our meadows would swarm with them. 



I noted three nests of the cedar-bird in August 

 in a single orchard, all productive, but each with 

 one or more unfruitful eggs in it. The cedar-bird 

 is the most silent of our birds, having but a single 

 fine note, so far as I have observed, but its manners 

 are very expressive at times. No bird known to 

 me is capable of expressing so much silent alarm 

 while on the nest as this bird. As you ascend the 

 tree and draw near it, it depresses its plumage and 

 crest, stretches up its neck, and becomes the very 

 picture of fear. Other birds, under like circum- 

 stances, hardly change their expression at all till 

 they launch into the air, when by their voice they 

 express anger rather than alarm. 



I have referred to the red squirrel as a destroyer 

 of the eggs and young of birds. I think the mis- 

 chief it does in this respect can hardly be overesti- 

 mated. Nearly all birds look upon it as their 

 enemy, and attack and annoy it when it appears 

 near their breeding haunts. Thus, I have seen the 

 pewee, the cuckoo, the robin, and the wood thrush 

 pursuing it with angry voice and gestures. A 

 friend of mine saw a pair of robins attack one in the 

 top of a tall tree so vigorously that they caused it 

 to lose its hold, when it fell to the ground, and 

 was so stunned by the blow as to allow him to pick 

 it up. If you wish the birds to breed and thrive 

 in your orchard and groves, kill every red squirrel 



