I 
UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
Part I 
THERE are few places on the farm where there 
is so much live natural history to be gathered as 
in the orchard. All the wild creatures seem to feel 
the friendly and congenial atmosphere of the or- 
chard. The trees bear a crop of birds, if not of 
apples, every season. Few are the winged visitors 
from distant climes that do not, sooner or later, 
tarry a bit in the orchard. Many birds, such as the 
robin, the chippy, the hummingbird, the cedar-bird, 
the goldfinch, and some of the flycatchers, nest 
there. The great crested flycatcher loves the old 
hollow limbs, and the little red owl often lives in a 
cavity in the trunk. The jays visit the orchard on 
their piratical excursions in quest of birds’ eggs, and 
now and then they discover the owl in his retreat 
and set up a great hue and cry over their discovery. 
On such occasions they will take turns in looking 
into the dim cavity and crying, “Thief, thief!’ 
most vociferously, the culprit meanwhile, appar- 
ently, sitting wrapped in utter oblivion. 
In May and June the cuckoo comes to the orchard 
for tent caterpillars, and the woodpeckers come at 
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