BIRDS, CATERPILLARS, AND PLANT LIVE. 139 



few minutes, then pull the larger ones to pieces, and swallow them; 

 the smaller ones she would swallow whole. I saw her eat fifteen in the 

 eight minutes she was in the tree. A Catbird came to the tree, picked 

 four brown-tail larvae from the branch, and ate them, and would prob- 

 ably have eaten more, but a Robin chased her out of the grove toward 

 the boulevard. She would give the larvas a knock or two, then swal- 

 low them. 



May 29 A pair of Blue Jays were very busy carrying food to their 



young. They came twenty-four times to a willow tree, with forest tent 

 caterpillars on it, during the three hours I was there, and took at least 

 two or three larvse each time. Once they went to some hazel bushes 

 near by, where a Chestnut-sided Warbler was sitting, and would prob- 

 ably have taken the eggs, if I had not interfered. A White-breasted 

 Nuthatch came to a willow and climbed around the trunk for a time, 

 when she found two forest tent caterpillars. She ate one after hammer- 

 ing it for a moment, but passed over the other. I saw her pass over 

 two others in the same way, apparently preferring to pick the smaller 

 insects from the bark. These were so small that I could not see what 

 they were. A Wood Thrush took two of the forest tent caterpillars and 

 ate them, and later in the day I saw a Wood Thrush go to the apple 

 tree and eat five of the brown-tail larvse, and then fly away. I saw a 

 Flicker alight on an ant hill and make a hole in the hill with her bill, 

 and pick up the ants. She was busy in this way for nearly fifteen min- 

 utes, and must have eaten large numbers of them. I found in the thick 

 woods a few oak trees that were badly infested with forest tent cater- 

 pillars, and there were quite a number of them on the low bushes on 

 the ground. A Chewink came to the brush, scratched in the leaves and 

 pulled out large grubs, but I could not make sure what they were. She 

 then hopped about and took six of the forest tent caterpillars, beat them 

 on the ground, and ate them. An unwise move on my part frightened 

 her away. A Black-billed Cuckoo came and gorged himself. He ate 

 twenty-nine forest tent caterpillars at first, then rested between ten and 

 fifteen minutes, then ate fourteen more. He would shake and hammer 

 one on the branch, then swallow it, and pick up another. A Nashville 

 Warbler came to the apple tree, picked a brown-tail larva from the 

 leaves, beat and shook it for about thirty seconds, and swallowed it; 

 then took another, hammered it in the same way, and swallowed it. 

 He then flew to the low shrubs. A Robin was passing to and fro, but 

 I did not see her eat any of the brown-tails ; she seemed to eat nothing 

 but what she took from the ground. The angleworms were plentiful 

 that day, and she had no appetite for anything else. 



Mat 31. — An Indigo Bird came to the brown-tail moth tree, took a 

 brown-tail larva from the leaves, and flew to a low branch, shook and 

 hammered the larva, and ate it. He then went back, took another, and 

 flew with it to a neighboring oak, ate the larva, and flew away. A 

 Warbling Vireo sung and fed in the oak trees for nearly thirty minutes. 



