158 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



avoids any supposed danger by short flights from 

 bush to bush, all the while seemingly manifesting 

 as little timidity and concern as is possible under 

 the circumstances. , 



Its food consists chiefly of small spiders, and the 

 various speicies of Aphid(B which are the curse of 

 florists, on account of the immense mischief which 

 they commit; besides small beetles as BostiHchus 

 pini, Chrysomela caruleipennis^ C. formosa, Dona- 

 cia confluenta^ Harpalus compar, Platymcs cupri- 

 pennis, which it procures from the foliage of bushes 

 and the surface of the ground; for like its nearest 

 congener last described, this species is both ter- 

 restrial and arboreal. 



During its stay, not a single note is uttered. It 

 remains the same busy, songless creature to the 

 last; its chief concern being the gratification of a 

 most vigorous appetite. Mr. Maynard in speaking 

 of the song of the male which he heard at Lake 

 Umbagog, Maine, says in substance, it is heard 

 early in the morning from the dead branch of a 

 tree, or the top rail of a fence, and is loud and 

 clear, resembling slighdy that of Seiurus novebo- 

 racensis. Nuttall describes the song of a species 

 which he presumed to be the one under con- 

 sideration, as a very agreeable warble, resembling 

 the lively chant of the Yellow Throat partially, 

 and to a certain extent the song of Dendrceca 

 {estiva. Br. Burroughs likens its song to that of 

 Oporomis formosa, 



From its manner ef feeding we should infer that 



