CONCORD 
1910 
June 18 
Behavio r 
of nesting 
Crested 
Flycatcher 
Most of the nwiierous birds which are mating close 
about our house are having exceptionally good success in 
hatching and rearing their young. The Crows, Jays and Red 
Squirrels are not molesting them'at all this season, per¬ 
haps because the larvae of the brown-tailed and gypsy moths 
supply them with abundant food in the woods. I hear both 
Crows and Jays daily in the distance, but I have seen them 
only occasionally along the wood edges of the Farm and not 
once near any of the buildings. A Red Squirrel appeared in 
the elms in the door-yard yesterday and spent an hour 
there. I thought at first he was nest-hunting for he 
searched every branch from base to tip with the closest 
attention. But he caused no alarm among the Orioles, Robins, 
Vireos, etc. and after getting out the gun I put it away 
again when I saw him repeatedly take from the under side 
of a leaf and eat what I am nearly sure was a live cater¬ 
pillar, 
Whenever I pass very near the apple-tree in which 
the Crested Flycatchers are nesting, one of the birds is 
siire to fly out of the hollow branch which I put up two 
years ago and in which I found a nest at the close of last 
summer after the Flycatchers had gone. To-day I ^proached 
the tree very carefully, walking over newly ploughed 
land where my footsteps made no sound. Yet the Flycatcher 
must have heard me coming, for before I got under the 
branch (which hangs about 15 feet above the earth) she 
