6 
L’SKFTL r.lKDS 
in the adults in late fall, the colors are duller and the characteristic 
yellow of the crown and rump either very dim or absent. Lenoth, 
about hve and a half inches. Nests in everg'reens a few feet above 
the t^Tound ; eggs, whitish-gray blotched with brown or blue. 
CHICKADEE. 
(Plate I, Fig. 3.) 
Found as a resident throughout northern part of the United 
States and in Canada and Alaska. Dear to us because of its cheer- 
ful activity in the cold of winter when almost all other bird friends 
have left us. From an economic standpoint, a great benefactor, 
for not only does it consume large numbers of insects in summer, 
but more than one-half the winter food consists of insects and their 
eggs. The eggs of plant lice make up one-hfth of the entire food : 
in fact, the destruction of these eggs on fruit and shade trees is the 
chief benehcial work of this bird in the winter, and the good it does 
in this way must not be underestimated. Examinations of the 
stomachs or crops of these birds have shown that sometimes more 
than four hundred and hfty eggs of plant lice are consumed by one 
bird in one day. Eggs of canker worms and tent caterpillars are 
also eaten, h'our stomachs or cro])S examined showed, as the result 
of a single da}'’s feed, one thousand and twenty-eight eggs of 
canker worms. Four others contained about six hundred eggs of 
canker worms and a hundred and hve mature, female canker worms. 
Surely, if any birds deserves protection, it is this one. Such a 
familiar bird hardl}' calls for a description. Head, back of neck and 
throat, black; sides of head and neck, whitish; breast, Avhite ; sides, 
washed with brownish yellow. Length, about hve ami one-half 
inches. Nests in old stumps and decayed trees, preferably birch; 
holes generally not far from ground. In addition to its cheerful 
“chick-a-dee-dee” it has a number of other notes, some of them 
extremely musical. 
SCREECH OWL. 
(Plate I, Fig. 4.) 
X^aries greatlv in color from reddish or rufous to gray. In 
rufous specimens, rufous above, generally showing hue black lines. 
P>elow, whitish, with feathers barred Avith reddish or rufous. Or, 
in gravish specimens, above, brownish gray Avith faint black mark- 
ings mingling AA'ith broAA'ii. Length, about ten inches. 1 his is a 
quite familiar bird about our orchards and barnyards, and as its 
