INTRODUCTION 9 



How the Chickadee Helps 



Chickadee seems so free of care as he flits from 

 limb to limb, that only those who have studied his 

 bill-of-fare know what he is doing for us. Perhaps 

 if he realized the importance of his services the re- 

 sponsibilities of life would weigh more heavily upon 

 him, and he might be as serious as a Brown Creeper. 



Some years ago Mr. Forbush, ornithologist of 

 the state of Massachusetts, invited the Chickadees 

 and their friends to be his guests in an old orchard 

 during the winter. Various kinds of food were of- 

 fered them, but this did not prevent the birds from 

 doing some foraging on their own account. The 

 eggs of the cankerworm and tent caterpillar, and of 

 other enemies of trees formed their principal fare. 

 The birds were studied closely, and it was learned 

 that one Chickadee would eat over 250 cankerworm 

 eggs at a meal. In the course of a day, therefore, 

 it might destroy more than twice this number. 



It was also discovered that from March 20 to 

 April 15, each Chickadee would devour an average 

 of thirty female cankerworm moths per day. As 

 each moth contained about 180 eggs we see that, be- 

 tween the dates named, a single Chickadee might 

 destroy as many as 5,000 cankerworm eggs in one 

 day! 



