BIRDS, CATERPILLARS, AND PLANT LICE. 141 
being occupied with the other bird. A Yellow-throated Vireo came 
through the place, visited the tree for a moment, and took two larve, 
then passed on. A male Golden-winged Warbler ate two forest tent 
caterpillars, after hammering them a long time until he got them in 
pieces. A female Black and White Warbler took a forest tent cater- 
pillar from the trunk of a tree near me, flew to the ground and beat it 
until she got it in pieces, when she took the inside parts and flew away 
to her young, leaving the other parts on the ground; she did not come 
back for them. A Red-eyed Vireo took a forest tent caterpillar from 
a branch and hammered it, then he pulled it to pieces and ate it all. 
The next one he treated in the same way, except that he ate only the 
inside, and dropped the skin and head to the ground. <A Chestnut- 
sided Warbler came to an oak tree infested with the gipsy larvee and 
took six in a few seconds, then flew to the high trees. An Oven-bird 
came to the same tree and took eight gipsy larve from the leaves, 
then flew away. A Yellow Warbler ate thirty-three cankerworms in 
a little over six minutes. A Song Sparrow took two of the gipsy larvae 
and carried them away to her young. 
Burlap bands were placed around the trees as a shelter 
or trap for the gipsy caterpillars. Jays and Orioles soon 
learned where to find them when hidden there. An inter- 
esting note on another bird follows : — 
JuLy 5.—I saw a Red-breasted Nuthatch take gipsy larve from 
under the burlaps and eat them. When first seen, it was on the trunk 
of a pine tree just below the burlap. The bird examined the burlap 
all around the tree, then flew to the next and examined it in the same 
way, and found nothing. On the fourth tree examined it found a 
small, smooth-skinned larva, just under the burlap, and ate it; then it 
found a medium-sized gipsy larva, and, beating it a few times on the 
trunk, swallowed it. It took another on the same tree. On the next 
tree it took another, and, after beating it more than the first, started to 
fly away with it, when a Wood Pewee chased it away. 
As the season advanced, the caterpillars began pupating, 
and birds that were not particularly fond of hairy caterpil- 
lars pursued the imagoes as they emerged from the pupa. 
JuLy 6.—Medford. A company of English Sparrows were picking 
the brown-tail moths from the elm trees and from fruit trees near the 
street. Some of these would get away from the Sparrows and fly out 
into the street, and were snapped up by a Least Flycatcher that was sit- 
ting on a dead limb, and also by two Kingbirds that were sitting on the 
telephone wires. On Highland Avenue, near the Hook farm, I saw a 
Great-crested Flycatcher take two of the brown-tail moths. 
