ORGYIA PREVENTIVES AND REMEDIES. 83 



{Loxia Icucoptera), fitted for tearing open the cones of hemlock and 

 pines for extracting their seeds for food — we may presume that the 

 above-mentioned birds are enabled, through some peculiar structural 

 feature, to appropriate the food that others are compelled to reject. 

 One of them, the yellow-billed cuckoo, is known to shave off the hairs 

 of the Orgyia leucostigma caterpillar before swallowing it. The follow- 

 ing account of the operation is from Dr. Le Baron, former State Ento- 

 mologist of Illinois: " My attention was attracted to a cuckoo regaling 

 himself upon these caterpillars which were infesting, in considerable 

 numbers, a larch growing near the house. My curiosity was excited by 

 seeing a little cloud of hair floating down upon the air from the place 

 where the bird was standing. Upon approaching a little nearer, I could 

 see that he seized the worm by one extremity, and drawing it gradually 

 into his mouth, shaved off, as he did so, with the sharp edges of his bill 

 the hairy coating of the caterpillar and scattered it upon the wind" 

 {First Report on the Insects of Illinois, 1871, p. 17). 



Preventives and Remedies. 



A relentless toar upon the Enylisli sparrows. — If the protection of the 

 Orgyia by the sparrow has been shown, as we believe, beyond question, it 

 follows that, with the abatement of the sparrow plague, the ravages of the 

 caterpillar would be arrested, or very greatly reduced. In view of the 

 magnitude of these injuries to our shade and fruit trees, I do not hesitate 

 to recommend, as a preventive measure, the removal, from among us, of 

 the English sparrow. It would also serve to diminish the losses annually 

 sustained in our orchards, forests and gardens, from the following well- 

 known noxious species : The apple-tree tent -caterpillar {Clisiocampa 

 Americana), the forest tent-caterpillar {ClisiocainjKc sylvatica), the fall 

 web-caterpillar {Hyphantria textor),* the yellow-necked apple-tree cat- 

 erpillar {DataJia ndnistra), the yellow woolly-bear {Spilosonia virginica), 

 and many others of the kind. 



As means toward the desirable removal of this intruding protector of 

 injurious insects, the " ineligiMlify " of which in this country has been 

 clearly shown by high ornithological authority,! the following may 

 be suggested: Removal of all nesting-boxes; destruction of their nests;J 

 depriving them of shelter and nesting beneath the cornices of buildings 



♦For its increasing abundance in Washington, D. C, see American Natiuralist, Sept., 

 1881, XV, p. 747. 



t See Dr. Coues on " Tlie Ineligibility of the European House Sparrow {Paxger domesti- 

 cus\ in America." American j^aturalist, August, 1878, xii, pp. 499-505. 



X Under the existing laws of the State of New York, this is only permissible under cer- 

 tain circumstances. It is hoped that all restriction will be removed by the present Legis- 

 lature, through a proposed amendment to our game laws. 



