46 THE-AUDUBON BU EERE TaN 
Many other birds, particularly the Downy Woodpecker, destroy both 
larva and eggs of other insect pests, that infest shade trees and would soon 
denude them of leaves if unchecked. A noticeable increase in nesting birds 
has been discovered in our block, with almost every summer some welcome 
newcomer. During the last summer the persistent notes of the Red-eyed 
Vireo were heard almost daily during the nesting season, but no nest 
was discovered until after the leaves of the elm trees had fallen. “Chen 
out near the tip of a slender branch was found the tiny basket nest, directly 
over the street. 
Our street is named Maple Avenue, a misnomer, for there is only 
one lone maple in the parkway. Inside the lot line and in the parkway 
on either side of the street are rows of beautiful elms that now meet over- 
head. In this leafy roof Robins and Grackles find ideal nesting sites, the 
latter in such numbers as to be almost at a status of pests. “UChrashers, 
Catbirds and Cardinals nest in the thickets of shrubbery, which during 
migrations serve as shelter and feeding grounds for hosts of warblers. 
The high-bush cranberry (Viburnum opulus) has been much planted 
in Berwyn, and in late summer, through the winter and early spring, its 
red berries decorate the bare branches. Last spring, in the last days of 
March, these berries with a side-dish of privet berries were the drawing 
card that brought a flock of about 50 Bohemian Waxwings to us. Appar- 
ently they are not over particular in their choice of feod. No one who 
has ever adventured in tasting these berries ever does it the second time 
from choice; but then who would eat caterpillars or plantlice? 
In the writer’s back yard is the stub of a large cottonwood tree, about 
16 feet high and 2 feet in diameter, which has been of great interest to 
the Downy, Red-head Woodpeckers and the Flickers. Each in turn has 
visited it in search of free lunches, the Flickers last year building in it. 
‘The death of the tree was primarily brought about by the ravages of large 
carpenter ants, whose galleries had reduced part of the trunk to a skele- 
ton. When they were discovered we injected into the trunk with a sprayer, 
a powerful insect eradicator which effectually finished the ant invasion, 
for they disappeared and none has been seen since. 
Not only has the old stub furnished nesting site and food for the 
Flickers, but it has been a host for at least four species of fungi, and at 
its base several times during the summer there have appeared large colo- 
nies of the edible ink-cap mushroom (Copfrinus atramentarius) which we 
do not eat. 
Never, since we came to Berwyn, have there been more Robins in 
evidence, and at the close of the summer the young Robins were every- 
where unusually abundant. 
One was noted with the upper mandible of the bill so deformed that 
it could not feed itself. Evidently it was fed by other Robins than its 
parents, for it was full grown and long out of the nest. 
So far the Starlings have not been reported as nesting in Berwyn, 
