TRANSACTIONS OF NORTHERN ILL. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 317 



SO great abundance but that the depredations of birds upon them are 

 readily noticed, and sometimes seriously felt. 



The number of species of birds thus annoying to the horticulturist is 

 fortunately very small. The only ones, I believe, which require to be 

 specified are the Baltimore oriole, the cat bird, the cherry bird, or cedar 

 bird, and the robin ; including, also, in a lesser degree, the blue jay, and 

 the brown thrush ; and if we take into account those which damage the 

 field crops, we must include the crow and the black birds. 



To these must be added another species of unenviable reputation, 

 but which does not come into either the grain-eating or the fruit-eating 

 class ; I refer to the yellow-bellied woodpecker,commonly known as the sap- 

 sucker. The food of this bird is usually the tender inner bark and cambium 

 of trees, but it also occasionally eats insects. Dr. P. R. Hoy, of Racine, 

 who read an interesting paper upon this bird at the annual meeting of 

 the State Horticultural Society, at Chicago, in December, 1861, stated 

 that he had opened many of these birds, and whilst he generally found 

 their stomachs more or less filled with cambium, he also fountl a few 

 small beetles ; and an acquaintance of mine, who dissected one of these 

 birds in the spring of 1873, fomitl 3, solitary ant in its crop. As the woody 

 substance upon which these birds feed must be much more tender and 

 available at some seasons of the year than at others, it is very probable 

 that if we could follow the course of these birds through the whole year, we 

 we would find that at some seasons insects constitute a considerable part 

 of their fare. 



How far the punctures of these birds injure the trees is yet a disputed 

 question. It seems to be the general impression that they are seriously 

 detrimental, and Dr. Hoy confirms this opinion. On the contrary, 

 Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, records that he examined many 

 trees, for the purpose of determining this point, and though many of 

 them were abundantly punctured, he could not percieve that any of them 

 were injured, and some of them appeared to be remarkably flourishing. 

 And I have myself seen apple trees riddled all over with the holes made 

 by these birds, and yet full of luxuriant foliage. It seems to me, there- 

 fore, pretty well established that they do not ordinarily injure trees in 

 this way to any appreciable extent, though it is possible they may some- 

 times do so in extreme or peculiar cases. There is one way, however, in 

 which they sometimes effect a very serious damage, and that is by girdling 

 and killing the leading shoot of ornamental trees, especially the ever- 

 greens, and thus preventing their symmetrical develojjment. But what- 

 ever may be the amount of injury committed by these birds, they must be 

 dealt with upon the same general j)rin( i])les which govern the treatment 

 of other injurious species, and to whi( h we shall refer in the sequel. 



The list of objectionable birds, small as it is, may pro|K^rly be divided 

 into two classes : those which are only annoying or troublesome, and 

 those which are seriously injurious. The latter class embraces pre- 

 eminently the first two birds on tiie list, the Baltimore oriole, or golden 

 robin, and the cat bird; and these two birds are thus signalized, not so 

 much for what they devour, as for their pernicious habit of pecking into 



