.16 



Bulletin 142. 



collect the apple-worm on the trunks of the trees in early spring, will 

 be surprised to fmcl how many empty cocoons there will be. Usually, 

 however, a tell-tale hole through the bark into the cocoon, explains 

 the absence of its occupant. Our observations lead us to fully agree 



with Riley and Walsh that "almost 

 all the cocoons of the moth that 

 have been constructed in the autumn 

 on the trunks and limbs of apple 

 trees, are gutted of their living 

 tenants by hungry birds, long before 

 the spring opens." In our experi- 

 ence, it was almost impossible to find 

 anything but empty cocoons on 

 any part of the tree in the spring, 

 except on the trunk at the surface 



142 — Trogosita corticalis. Note the 

 prcdaceoiis larva at work on a cod- 

 ling-moth pupa. (From Popenoe.) 



of the ground and for a distance of 

 from six inches to a foot above. One finds such an astonishingly 

 large number of empty cocoons, that it would seem as though the 

 birds must get the larger percentage of the worms which go into hiber- 

 nation in the fall. Among the birds 

 whichthus include the apple- worm in 

 their menu are the ^ downy wood- 

 pecker, nuthatch, black - capped tit- 

 mouse, bluebird, crow blackbird, king- 

 bird, swallows, sparrows, wrens, chick- 

 a-dee, and jays. It is probable that 

 most of the birds which winter in any 

 locality, include the apple worm in 

 their dietary. 



Recent reports have appeared in 

 horticultural papers that the fruit- ^^.z—Thc ri7tg-legged Pimplapar- 



growers of Oregon and Washington '"'''^- {Ptnipla anvulipes.) 



^ . ^ ^ (From Kilev. An. Report Sec. 



were trymg to arrange for the mi- ofAgr for 1897.) 



portation of a Oerman bird which 



is said to be a natural enemy of the codling-moth. Our advice to a 



correspondent, who wrote us from Washington in regard to the 



scheme, was '* do not try it." There are too many risks to run. In 



the first place, it is very doubtful if there is any German bird 



