SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 255 



eat awa.y the wood, and thus destroy the leading shoot or 

 main stem of the tree. As the side shoots grow upward 

 they also are attacked, and the tree is ruin(Ml for timber. 

 Instead of growing a tall, straight trunk, it grows straggling- 

 branches. Quite often the leading shoot of a tree is attacked 





^H**"' ^ 



— (f. A., 





Fig. 113.— Piue top killed by pine 

 weevil. 



Fig. 114. — Tree crooked and ruined for 

 timber by pine weevil. 



in this way j^ear after j'ear. Each attack results in a crook 

 in the trunk, and the tree Avlien grown is fit onl}^ for kindling 

 wood. Perhaps no insect is a greater pest to the lumberman 

 than this. While examining the work of this insect in a 

 tine grov^e of young white pines I saw that many of the bur- 

 rows had been perforated by birds, and the grubs extracted. 

 It appears that Dr. Fitch also noticed this, for he says that 

 small Ijirds are verj- efficient in ferreting out and devouring 



