TRANSACTIONS OF NORTHERN ILL. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 319 



of the leading facts and considerations which should govern our conduct 

 in this matter, and with these general principles in our minds, I believe 

 it will be safe to leave the bird tpiestion to the good judgment and good 

 feeling of those who are more especially interested in it. 



Mr. Wier — The sap-sucker is not a true woodpecker. The hairy 

 woodpecker is the only practical enemy to the rotmd-headcd ajiple tree 

 borer, and is therefore one of the most useful of birds, while the sap- 

 sucker, which so nearly resembles it, is one of our enemies. 



Mr. Powell said he had some Scotch pines which were badly in- 

 jured by the sap-suckers, but had stopped their work by wrapping cloths 

 around the bodies of trees where they worked ; also liad frightened them 

 away by hanging white cloths in the evergreens. 



Mr. Galusha described the sap-sucker as a brown bird, about half 

 the size of the robin or the common red-headed woodpecker, with a yel- 

 low breast, the males having a small tuft of red on top of the head. This 

 bird is quiet in its work, seldom making a noise except a single chirp 

 when it flits away from the tree, where it has been filling its craw with 

 sweet juices of the pine. He said it is not an insectivorous bird, as its 

 tongue is not barbed like that of proper woodpeckers. He regarded it as 

 a great nuisance among a plantation of Austrian and Scotch pines, though 

 it seldom did serious damage to deciduous trees. The work done in 

 spring, before its molting season, and while the sap of the trees is in vig- 

 orous circulation, does not seem to kill the trees ; but that done later, 

 when the parent birds return from the forest, and bring tlieir whole family 

 with them, proves most serious, and often fatal. He had known many 

 fine Austrian pines utterly ruined by these little girdlers. The plan for 

 capturing them was described as follows : " Take a shot-gun loaded with 

 fine shot, and station yourself, early in the morning — say about sunrise — 

 near the tree which the birds have lately worked upon, and in plain sight 

 of the little rings of fresh holes in the bark, and you will not have to wait 

 long before this pretty little thief will come for its breakfast, as it eats 

 from the dish made but a day or two previously, and usually digs out new 

 cups for future use before leaving, unless stojiped by the small shot afore- 

 said." He had saved the lives of several valuable Austrian i)ines in this 

 way, with the loss of but a few birds and a very small amount of ammuni- 

 tion. 



Dr. LeBaron, in answer to a question, said that the oyster-shell l)ark 

 louse has been for several years extensively jjreyed upon by acari, which 

 devour the eggs under scales, and by the lady bugs, and a chalcis fly dis- 

 covered by himself, whicli destroy the eggs. He thinks there is no reason 

 to fear serious damage to fruit trees from this louse, on account of the 

 prevalence of its enemies. He had colonized the chalcis fly in infested 

 apple trees with excellent success. He was also asked fur a remedy k)r 

 the small brown-headed strawberry worm, which is destroying the foliage 

 of so many strawberry plantations ; to which he replied that undoubtedly 

 scattering air-slaked lime, sprinkling a solution of Paris green upon the 

 infested vines, would check the ravages of the insects; but as they work 



