136 USEFUL BIRDS. 



etery. They were also eating the gipsy larvae. There was only one 

 that I could get near enough to see what and how many he was eating. 

 He, in a little over three minutes, ate forty larvse that I was sure of. 

 Two pairs of Wilson's Thrushes were near me nearly all the forenoon. 

 They did not stay in the trees much of the time. I saw one alight on a 

 small sprout on a willow and eat five gipsy moth larvse, then fly to the 

 ground. They were feeding almost wholly on the hummocks among 

 the bushes and grass. 



May 22. — A pair of Chickadees came to the apple tree and stayed 

 seven minutes. One ate fifteen and the other twenty-one brown-tail 

 larvse. They must have eaten more than twice that number, for they 

 were not so we could see them nearly all of the time, but we could see 

 that they were busy. Mr. Kirkland observed one, and I the other. A 

 Yellow-throated Vireo came to the tree and ate three brown-tail larvse 

 as he passed through. 



Mat 23. — A Robin was in the apple tree when I got there, but flew 

 away. Soon she came back and foraged on the ground for a while, 

 then went to the apple tree and to a fork near the top where the brown- 

 tail larvse were congregated in great numbers, picked into the mass 

 and swallowed them. I saw her take eight mouthfuls. The next 

 bird to come was a Red-eyed Vireo. He confined himself to the 

 branches where the larvae were comparatively scarce, and went about 

 picking them from the leaves. I saw him take forty-three brown-tails 

 in ten minutes. He stayed longer than that, but changed to the oppo- 

 site side of the tree, so I could not see him. He was finally driven out 

 by an English Sparrow. A Yellow Warbler passed through the tree 

 and stopped for a moment. I saw him take six brown-tail larvee. The 

 next visitor was a Blue Jay. He came in a very noisy manner, and 

 perched on one of the upper branches. He looked suspiciously at me 

 for a few seconds, then went to feeding on the larvse. He hopped 

 from one branch to another, and took them from the forks where they 

 were clustered. I could not count how many he ate, but there were at 

 least thirty brown-tails. A female Chestnut-sided Warbler came into 

 the tree and ate eleven brown-tails, when she was followed by the 

 male. He would eat one or two, then chase his mate through the apple 

 tree and the adjoining trees. They were in and out of the tree, back 

 and forth, for nearly twenty minutes. A Chipping Sparrow came to 

 one of the upper branches and took a larva, flew to the ledge near me, 

 hammered it, and ate it, swallowing it whole. She then flew back, took 

 another, flew to a lower branch with it, and ate it in the same way. 

 Then she flew away. 



May 24. — A Black-billed Cuckoo came to the apple tree that has a 

 tent caterpillars' nest in it, pulled open the web and took two caterpil- 

 lars from it, when he was seen by a Kingbird and chased out. The 

 Kingbird went to the nest and pulled out a mouthful of web and took it 

 away to its nest. A male Oriole came soon afterward, and took three 



