56 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



behavior of a bird that has just banquutecl, I began to 

 think its powers had been vastly underestimated. By 

 the aid of a ladder the cocoon was obtained and found 

 not only to have been punctured, but all the soft and 

 liquid parts extracted. A% there were other cocoons 

 attached to the same tree which, upon examination, 

 proved to be vuiinjured, I was led to believe the bird 

 had found a weak part in the one which it had pene- 

 trated. 



"After a few days another cocoon was found to be 

 punctured, this time fairly upon the crown and appar- 

 ently in the strongest part. I now saw what had 

 before escaped my notice, viz. : that by the situation of 

 the first cocoon it was accessible to the bird only from 

 below, which accounted for the puncture being near its 

 base, close to the twig, A short time afterward, on 

 passing another tree, out from among the branches 

 Hew the little murderer, and, as usual, a pierced cocoon 

 was found, the puncture yet wet with the juices of the 

 pupa, showing that I had surprised the bird while at 

 breakfast. 



"In the month of January in the succeeding year, I 

 again found the winged destroyers at work, and could 

 easily distinguish the dry, rattling sound, the death 

 knell of the beautiful moth, the larva of which seems 

 to be as destructive to vegetation as the imago is 

 innocent. So far as I have been able to observe, the 

 l)irds (111 not attack these cocoons until winter, when 

 other insect food is not so easily obtainable. Tn fact, 

 this .seems to be a source of sul)sistence stored up for this 



