144 . USEFUL BIRDS. 



In September, 1895, a second brood of the gipsy moth 

 hatched in Woburn. The Warblers were then mio-ratino: 

 southward, and had stopped there to feed on the young cat- 

 erpillars. Mr. Mosher refers to this briefly, as follows : — 



Sept. 21, 1895. — I went to the Woburn colony in the forenoon, to 

 observe the young larv*. I found that many of them were gone, prob- 

 ably having been eaten by birds. Since these warm days the eggs are 

 hatching again. The birds were very numerous, especially the War- 

 blers and Vireos, and the Chickadees, Blue Jays, and Haii-y Wood- 

 peckers were quite plentiful. 



In July, 1899, a serious outbreak of gipsy moths was dis- 

 covered in Georgetown at some distance from the region 

 then known to be infested by this insect. On visiting the 

 place I found birds very plentiful there, and most species 

 appeared to be feeding on the gipsy moth in some of its 

 forms. Mr. Mosher was sent there, and spent several days 

 investigratino: the natural enemies of the moth. Some of 

 the notes taken there by him are given below : — 



July 11. — A Chickadee came, and ate one larva and one pupa. He 

 held them witli his feet, pulled them to jjieces, and ate the fragments. I 

 saw an Oven-bird carrying a gipsy moth larva to her young. A young 

 Black -billed Cuckoo came to an oak tree, took a larva from a branch, 

 flew to a lower branch, and began working the larva around in its bill. 

 It continued this for several minutes, when it dropj^ed the larva to the 

 ground, flew and picked it ui>, and finally swallowed it. A Blue Jay 

 remained in sight about four minutes, and was seen to eat ten pupse 

 and three larvie. A pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks could be seen 

 among the pine trees, feeding steadily when they were in sight. They 

 were in the colony at least two hours. There were se^en Blue Jays 

 in the colony at one time, and all were eating both larvai and pujjfe 

 steadily when seen. A jjair of Scarlet Tanagers were in the trees for 

 nearly an hour, and were eating caterpillars pretty steadily while they 

 were in sight, which was about half the time. Several times a Black and 

 White Creeper came, and ate a few jjupaj each time. A Downy A\"ood- 

 pecker was heard several times on the edge of the defoliated tract ; 

 finally he came into it, and was seen to take a few jnipic from the 

 clustered masses, pull them in pieces, and eat them. A pair of Great- 

 crested Fljcatchers were passing to and fro. One of them alighted 

 on a tree near me, and, after ho2)ping about for a little and taking one 

 or two small moths on the wing, it took a pupa from among the pine 

 needles on a small bough, and ate it. There was a family of Black- 



