90 THE EEPOET OF THE No. 36 



would be that the red wing blackbirds and the Bobolink would find the presence of 

 enormous quantities of these larvue too much of a good thing, and would get out. 



Mk. Griddle: My observation of the Bobolink is that the migration would be 

 during the middle of May. The Eed-wing Blackbird is a very early bird and arrives 

 in Manitoba about the first week in April. It retires to the marshes to breed about 

 the end of that month and this might account for their leaving the fields infested 

 by army worms. 



Mr. Swaine: Have you observed that they feed upon the caterpillars in the 

 South to a great extent? I thought the Bobolink in particular was a grain feeding 

 bird while in the Southern States. 



Mr. 'Griddle : So far as I know, the Bobolink is certainly a rice feeding bird, 

 particularly in the autumn, but in the north it is almost entirely an insect feeder. 

 There are two distinct features in the bird's life. In the one case it is injurious but 

 in the other beneficial. I think the United States Department in their laws have 

 protected the birds at all times of the jeav, except in the rice growing region. 



Prof. Lochhead: Gan these men who have been in the field prophesy as t« 

 next season? 



Mr. Baker: Everyone who has been in the field working on the army worm 

 has been prophesying since the middle of June, and I think that — working on the 

 basis of the fact that there is no appreciable second brood, and in view of the fact 

 that it would be unique in the history of the army worm with us that there should 

 be any second occurrence, I think we can say that there will be no outbreak next 

 year. I have not been able to get any records of a second outbreak under such con- 

 ditions as we have here. 



Mr. King: There is a recurrence in Missouri and those States, frequently. In 

 fact the army worm is present every year. That I think is not in the same class 

 as our outbreak here, and also there is the fact that we had no second brood. 



Mr. Gibson : The second brood would be very difficult to find and I do not think 

 that this brood which occurs in autumn and over winter would ever be found to be 

 injurious. 



Mr. Baker : Not injurious, but present. 



Dr. Bethune : Would they not become extinct if there were no second brood ? 



Prof. Lochhead : The conditions depend upon climatic factors and parasites. 

 Glimatic factors are very important. Two seasons would do it. All dry seasons — 

 for instance, this season as far as Eastern Ontario was concerned — we had nearly a 

 month or 26 days without rain during parts of Miay and June in Montreal — that 

 held up as far as Ottawa, and last season was also a very dry one. These two factors 

 seem to stand out as important in all cutworm attacks. The dry weather favours the 

 development of cutworms. 



Mr. Baker : In Brant Gounty where the worst infestation occurred all the 

 areas that were attacked, practically without exception, were flooded deeply in 

 June. There were heavy rains early in that month and all the areas where the 

 army worm fed were deeply flooded for a period I believe of two or three days. 



