From here we saw plenty of chickadees, titmice, nut-hatches, and other woodpeckers busily engaged in hunting their breakfasts. We had a fine opportunity of studying them with our glasses. One bold "tit" stole a grain of corn from the crib and carried it off to the tree in front of us, where he took it in his claw, and proceeded to pick the choicest morsel out of it. Presently another tufted rogue flew up and there were some "passages of arms," and a flight into another tree, and in the midst of the fray, alas! the corn was dropped. THE SCARLET PAINTED CUP. PROF. WILLIAM KERR HIGLEY, Secretary of The Chicago Academy of Sciences. These children of the meadows, born Of sunshine and of showers. --_Whittier._ The scarlet painted cup belongs to a large and interesting group of plants known as the figwort family (_Scrophulariaceæ_). The common name of the family is derived from the reputed value of some of the species in the cure of ficus or figwort, a disease caused by the growth of a stalked excrescence on the eyelids, tongue, or other parts of the body that are covered with a mucous membrane. The technical name is derived from scrofula, as some of the species are considered efficacious in the treatment of that disease. This family includes about one hundred and sixty-five genera and over twenty-five hundred species. They are common all over the world, reaching from the equator into the regions of constant frosts. It is claimed by some authorities that fully one thirty-fifth of all the flowering plants of North America are classed in this family. Besides the painted cup there are classed in this group the mullen, the common toad-flax, the foxglove (_Digitalis_), the gerardias, and the calceolarias. The foxglove, though causing death when the extract is taken in excess, is one of the most highly valued medicinal plants known. Nearly all the species of the family are herbs, without fragrance. Some of the species are known to be partially parasitic. True parasites are usually white or very light colored and contain no green coloring matter, which is essential when the plant is self-supporting. The parasitic forms of this family, however, do contain green coloring matter and are thus not entirely dependent on their host for the preparation of their food supply. The gerardias (false foxgloves) are frequently found attached to the roots of oaks, large shrubs, and even on the roots of grasses. It has also been shown that there is a cannibalistic tendency in some of the species of gerardia. They will not only fasten their sucker-like roots on those of other species, but also upon those of other individuals of the same species, and even upon the root branches of their own plants. This double parasitism is not rare.