456 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



work, seldom making a noise except a single chirp when it flits awaj 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 Aus- 

 trian 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 vigorous circulation, does not seem to kill the trees; but that 

 done later, when the parent birds return from the forest and bring their 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 cap- 

 turing 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 disli made but a day 

 or two previously, and usually digs out new cups for future use before leaving, 

 unless stopped by the small shot aforesaid." He had saved the lives of several 

 valuable Austrian pines in this way, with the loss of but a few birds and a 

 verv small amount of ammunition. 



