250 BIRD FRIENDS 



of other injurious insects. In the spring, when the 

 female canker-worm moths appeared in the orchard 

 the chickadee fed on these. While the trees in the 

 neighboring orchards were badly infected with the 

 worms, comparatively few were found in the or- 

 chard which had been frequented by the winter 

 birds, and the few which did appear were easily dis- 

 posed of by the summer birds which came to the 

 locality. The trees in other orchards were almost 

 stripped of their foliage, while this one retained 

 its leaves, and, with one exception, was the only 

 orchard in the neighborhood to produce any fruit. 

 It should be noted that the exception was the near- 

 est orchard to the one on which the experiment 

 was tried. 



Need of feeding birds in winter. The winter is 

 a season when, from the bird's standpoint, assist- 

 ance in obtaining food is particularly welcome. 

 When heavy snows lie on the ground, much of the 

 supply of the seed-eating birds is hidden; and when 

 the tree-trunks are covered with ice, insect-eating 

 birds find it difficult to break through this coating, 

 to secure insects and their eggs in the bark beneath. 

 Under ordinary conditions our birds can withstand 

 quite cold weather if they are well supplied with 

 food; but their food is digested so quickly that birds 

 require a large amount of it and frequent access to 

 it. Birds may also perish from exposure to severe 

 storms and weather, as well as from starvation, so 



