BIRDS OF KANSAS. 633 



buds. It does not do this to the bud for food, but really for 

 the grub contained in it. If these buds be examined after the 

 Chickadee has thrown them away, the burrow of a grub or cat- 

 erpilhir will be found in the very heart of them. The bird is 

 able to discover the presence of these vermin much more read- 

 ily than man could, and it is thus able to assail them at a period 

 of their existence when they are doing the most harm. But it 

 is not the insect and the larva alone that he destroys. His 

 microscopic eyes enable him to discover their eggs deposited on 

 and in the crevices of the bark and in the buds, and in an in- 

 stant he can destroy the whole future brood. The eggs of the 

 moth of the destructive leaf-rolling caterpillar, those of the 

 canker worm, the apple tree moth, and others of these well- 

 known plagues, are greedily eaten up by it; and this is in the 

 inclement winter, when most of our other birds have aban- 

 doned us for a more genial climate. 



"In the summer time, the Chickadee's labors are more easily 

 noticed; and as he raises a large brood of young, the female 

 laying six or eight eggs at a litter, he is very busy through the 

 whole day in capturing vast quantities of caterpillars, flies and 

 grubs. It has been calculated that a single pair of these birds 

 destroy, on the average, not less than five hundred of these pests 

 daily; a labor which could hardly be surpassed by a man, even 

 if he gave his whole time to the task. 



" 'Moreover, the man could not be successful at so small a 

 cost, for, setting aside the value of his time and the amount of 

 a laborer's daily wages, he could not reach the denser and loftier 

 twigs, on which the caterpillars revel and which the Titmouse 

 can traverse with perfect ease. No man can investigate a tree^ 

 and clear it of the insect hosts that constantly beleaguer it, 

 without doing some damage to the buds and young leaves by 

 his rough handling; whereas the Chickadee trips along the 

 branches, peeps under every leaf, swings himself round upon 

 his perch, spies out every insect, and secures it with a peck so 

 rapid that it is hardly perceptible.' 



"In some observations made on the habits of this and some 

 other birds in Paris, it was found that the Titmouse destroys, at 



