FORAGING HABITS OF BIRDS. 155 



probably collects from ten to fifteen insects of an appre- 

 ciable size every minute. As he lives entirely upon them, 

 and in summer gathers them for his offspring, this is no 

 extravagant estimate. 



The pewee, however, does not catch all his prey while 

 it is flying, but he is usually on the wing when he takes it. 

 If he finds a moth or a beetle upon a leaf or a branch, he 

 seizes it while he is poised in the air. A sylvian would 

 creep along the branch, and when near enough extend his 

 neck forward to take it. The vireos,- forming an interme- 

 diate genus between the sylvians and the true flycatchers, 

 partake of the habits of each. Some of them are remark- 

 able for a sort of intermittent singing while hunting for 

 their food. The preacher, indeed, seems to make war- 

 bling his principal employment. He is never, apparently, 

 very diligent or earnest, and often stops during his desul- 

 tory exhortations, to seize a passing insect, and then re- 

 sumes his song. 



Woodpeckers reside chiefly in the forest, of which they 

 are the natural guardians ; and as the food of their choice 

 is nearly as abundant in winter as in summer, they are 

 not generally migratory. Hence the operations of these 

 birds are incessant throughout the year. As their food is 

 not anywhere very abundant, like that of some of the 

 granivorous birds, woodpeckers never forage in flocks. 

 The more they scatter themselves the better their fare. 

 The woodpeckers bear the same relation to other birds that 

 take their food from trees, as snipes and woodcocks bear 

 to thrushes and quails. They bore into the wood as the 

 snipe bores into the earth, while thrushes and quails seek 

 the insects that crawl on the surface of the ground. 



There are several families of birds that take only a 

 small part of their food from trees, and the remainder 

 from the soil or the greensward. Such are all the galli- 

 naceous kinds, larks, blackbirds, and thrushes. It has 



