372 



THE MUSEUM. 



his) were feeding on the eggs of the 

 fall canker-worm, I asked Mr. Bailey 

 to attract the birds, if possible, to the 

 orchard by suspending pieces of meat, 

 bone, suet, etc., from the trees. 

 These food materials are suitable for 

 birds at times when the trees are cov- 

 ered with snow or ice and, when lack- 

 ing such nourishment, they might 

 starve. Although birds will frequently 

 visit bait provided for them and in 

 time will eat a considerable portion of 

 the meat, they do not depend entirely 

 on this aliment, but spend the greater 

 portion of their time in searching for 

 insects and eggs in the immediate 

 vicinity. 



Finding a plentiful supply of food, 

 the chickadees remained about the or- 

 chard most of the winter, except for a 

 week or two, when the meat gave out, 

 but they were lured back again later 

 by a fresh supply which was placed in 

 the trees. Not only were the chicka- 

 dees attracted to the orchard in large 

 numbers, but other birds came also. 

 A pair of downy woodpeckers {Djyo- 

 bates pubescens) and two pairs of nut- 

 hatches (Sitta carolincnsis) were fre- 

 quent visitors, and a few brown creep- 

 ers {Ccrthia anicricmia) came occas- 

 ionally. All these paid frequent visits 

 to the meat and suet, and also thor- 

 oughly inspected the trees in search of 

 insect food. They made excursions 

 also to the trees in the neighborhood, 

 but the greater portion of their atten- 

 tion was confined to the orchard in 

 which the bait was suspended. As 

 they became more accustomed to Mr. 

 Bailey's presence they grew quite tame 

 and conld be viewed at a distance of a 

 few feet. Indeed, chickadees fre- 

 quently alighted on his person and oc- 

 casionally took food from his hand. 



He was thus enabled to determine ac- 

 curately (without killing them) what 

 they were feeding upon, and was soon 

 convinced that they were destroying 

 the eggs of the canker-worm moth in 

 large numbers, as well as the hibernat- 

 ing larvae and pups of other insects 

 injurious to trees. 



To determine how many eggs a single 

 chickadee would eat, a few birds were 

 killed and their stomach contents ex- 

 amined, with surprising results. There 

 was no difficulty in identifying the eggs 

 of the canker-worm moth which were 

 found in the birds' stomachs, as a 

 great portion of the shells remained 

 intact. The other insect contents of 

 the stomachs were identified for me 

 through the kindness of Mr. A. H. 

 Kirkland, B. Sc, assistant entomolo- 

 gist to the State Board of Agriculture, 

 who made the examinations. Although 

 it was impossible in all cases to learn 

 with certainty the species to which 

 certain insects belonged, it' was evident 

 that they belonged to genera known to 

 be of injurious habits. 



I take the following from Mr. 

 Bailey's notes: — 



Number of Eggs of the fall Cmikcr- 



zvoj'in found in stomacJis of 



C Iiickadccs. 



No. I 273 eggs. 



" 2 26 I " 



" 3 216 " 



" 4 278 " 



Making in all 1,028 eggs found in the 

 stomachs of four birds. Four birds 

 killed later in the season had eaten the 

 female imagos of the spring canker- 

 worm [Palcacrita vernal a as follows: 



No. I 41 moths 



" 2 18 



" 3 27 " 



" 4 19 *' 



