ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 57 



jiomach was probably filled !it;verai times daily, the estimate made by Mr. Bailey seerus b 

 very conservative one. He now regards the chickadee as the best friend the farmer haf, 

 for the reason that it is with him all the year, and there is no bird that can compare with 

 it in destroying the female moths and their e g<:;s. It was noticed that the birds made 

 no attempt to catch the male moths. This, however, cannot be considered as a fault, for 

 the birds accomplish far more by destroying the females than they would by killing 

 males. 



The following notes from the preliminary examinations of the contents of the 

 alim( ntary canal of chickadees made by Mr. Kirkland are of interest in this connection : 



"Bird brought in by Mr. Bailey, March 16, 1895: Gullet empty. Gizzard con- 

 tained 270 canker-worm eggs (Anisoj^teryx pometaria'), forty-six case-bearfrs (microlepi- 

 doptera), six cocoons. Fig. 30c^, of a small tineid (near Aspidisca). These three kinds 

 of food in bulk composed eighty per cent, of the gizzard contents, the remainder being 

 dark material which I was unable to determine under a hand lens. I think it very piob- 

 able that part of this was bits of bark or particles of bark dubt taken in with the eggs or 

 cocoons. The intestine contained a large quantity of meat, seventy-five per cent., and 103 

 canker-worm eggs, ten per cent,, the remainder, fifteen per cent., being material which 1 

 could not identify. It was not meat. This gives us as totals, 373 canker-worm eggs and 

 fifty-one microlepidoptera. 



" Specimens of so called ' scales ' on apple twigs brought in by Mr, Bailey, March 12, 

 1895. These are not bark lice, but the cocoons of a microlepidopteron, probably a 

 tineid. Length 1-12 to 1-8 inch: width, 1-12 to 1-10 inch; elliptic*!, dark brown or 

 reddish brown. They are closely spun, the upper surface apparently being of leaf 

 epidermis, while underneath is a small well-forined cocoon which contains a minute green 

 larva which evidently hibernates as such, probably pupating in the spring The larva 

 undoubtedly feeds on the leaves of the apple-tree, as these cocoons were taken from the 

 small twigs at the extreaie tnd of a large branch. Some of these cocoons are empty 

 and have a minute hole at one end, which probably served for the egress of some small 

 parasite. These cocoons are eaten by the chickadee, and have been found in the gizzard 

 of the birds." 



The case bearers and the tineids or leaf miners are injurious to the foliage of the 

 apple-trees. 



It was noticed by Mr. Bailey, who watched the birds closely for several days, that 

 they were eating quantities of both of these insects. It would have been impossible for 

 any one to determine the species of the leaf miners as found in the birds' stomachs, for 

 little remained but small fragments of the shell of the creature. Mr. Bailey noticed that 

 the birds were taking objects from the twigs, some of which they ate ; others they 

 rejected and dropped upon the snow. Some of those dropped he picked up and examined, 

 finding them to be parasitized. The birds undoubtedly ate only those which were alive. 



It was evident from a careful examination of the eggs found in the stomachs of the 

 chickadees that they were either broken by the bill in such a way that the contents were 

 exposed to the action of the gastric juice or the gastric fluid destroyed a portion of the 

 shell. Occasionally a few eggs which appeared to be whole were found in the intestines. 



A great quantity of animal food is required to sustain life and provide animal heit 

 sufficient to enable these little birds to resist thi^ inclemency of our severe winters. In 

 proof of this it may be stated that during favorable weather the birds visited the meat 

 and ate largely of it three times each hour with fair regularity. During each interval 

 they were occupied in destroying eggs and other hibernating insect forms which were 

 always present and numerous in the stomachs examined. This feeding appeared to be 

 almost continuous except in severe storms when the birds sought shelter or when they 

 were laboring under excitement caused by fear, as in the case of a visit from a hawk, cat 

 or shrike. Whenever a cat appeared they immediately hid behind the branches and 

 remained quiet until the intruder had passed. The appearance of other enemies or the 

 firing of a gun would produce much the same etiect. 



