BIRDS THAT HARM AND BENEFIT THE FRUIT GROWER 107 



insects. It is, however, in the fall and winter that the chickadee 

 does its greatest service in the' orchard. Careful analysis of the 

 stomach contents at this season of the year, show that on an average 

 20 per cent of the food eaten consists of the eggs of plant-lice or 

 aphids, as many as 450 of these eggs being found in a single stomach. 

 The aphids are placed among the seriously destructive pests of the 

 orchard. Their eggs are little molested by other birds or natural 

 enemies, and the adults are not controlled by the arsenical sprays used 

 in the orchard, hence the chickadee is rendering a peculiarly valu- 

 able service in the destruction of these insects, Scale-insects are 

 also eaten to some extent. Four chickadee stomachs examined in 

 Michigan showed a total of 77 specimens of the oyster-shell bark- 

 louse, which is one of the common, destructive scale-insects of the 

 orchard. 



Some valuable data has been recorded on the food habits of the 

 chickadee in Massachusetts. ( Bailey, Annual Report of the Massachu- 

 setts State Board of Horticulture for 1895.) During the winter four 

 chickadees were shot in an orchard badly infested with the fall canker- 

 worm, and their stomachs examined for eggs of that pest. The first 

 contained 273 cankerworm eggs, the second 261, the third 216, and 

 the fourth 278, making a total of 1028 eggs. Later in the season after 

 the cankerworms had become full grown and the moths were begin- 

 ning to issue, four more chickadees were taken in the same orchard 

 to determine the extent to which the chickadees were destroying tho 

 female moths. The four stomachs contained respectively 41, 18, 

 2 7 and 19 female moths. These moths were in turn examined to 

 determine the number of eggs which they ~\vould have depositied, 

 and their ovaries showed an average of 185 eggs per moth. Thus, 

 en the average, each of the chickadees examined had destroyed the 

 equivalent of about 5,000 eggs of this destructive orchard pest at a 

 single meal. 



Granting then, the useful nature of the chickadee, why not 

 have your neighbor's chickadees work in your own orchard? This you 

 may readily have with the expenditure of a minimum amount of 

 time, energy and money. For if during the fall and winter unsalted 

 bones with a little meat or fat still adhering, or with the marrow 

 exposed are hung about in the orchard, out of the reach of curs and 

 dogs, the chickadees will be attracted in numbers. Pieces of suet 

 wired securely to the smaller limbs are also nic~*^. excellent for this 

 purpose. After the little chickadee has made a g^od, morning meal 

 from the food thus provided, he will spend the remainder of the day 

 in the orchard eating eggs of plant-lice, tent caterpillars, webworms, 

 cankerworms and even scale-insects. When fed regularly the chicka- 

 dees become exceedingly tame and with a little time and patience may 

 readily be taught to come and eat from your hands. No more charm- 

 ing pet can be found for the children on the farm, not one that "will 



