ENCOURAGING THE PRESENCE OF BIRDS. 305 



pillars which infested the district. These trees revived some- 

 what under this treatment and began to bear sparingly. The 

 fourth year nothing was done towards destroying the insect 

 pests or in any way interfering with their increase. In the 

 fall of this year immense numbers of the wingless females of 

 the fall canker-worm were seen ascending the trees and de- 

 positing their eggs. The eggs of the tent-caterpillar moth 

 were also numerous on the twigs, giving promise of great 

 damage to the foliage of the old orchard on the following 

 summer. In the mean time, however, pieces of meat, bone, 

 and suet were suspended from the trees, and chickadees, 

 nuthatches, woodpeckers, and brown creepers made the or- 

 chard their central station. The chickadees, which, of course, 

 were most numerous, became so tame as frequently to alight 

 upon the person having the experiment in charge, and occa- 

 sionally took food from his hand. Although the food put up 

 for the birds was eaten very freely, it was by no means their 

 sole diet. All of the species were seen to devour quantities 

 of canker-worm eggs, scale-lice, and various hibernating in- 

 sects injurious to fruit-trees, and these observations were 

 confirmed by the examinations of stomachs. They were also 

 found to feed upon similar insect matter in the neighboring 

 woods. 



As spring advanced, the female spring canker-worm moths 

 came up from the ground to deposit their eggs on the apple- 

 trees. Both the moths and their eggs were devoured in great 

 numbers. As insect food increased, the birds paid less atten- 

 tion to the meat. When the breeding season arrived the or- 

 chard was mostly deserted by the winter visitors, to be occu- 

 pied by the summer residents, though both chickadees and 

 woodpeckers nested in the vicinity. Summer exhibited the 

 results of the experiment. While other orchards in the neigh- 

 borhood were infested by canker-worms and tent-caterpillars, 

 this one was comparatively free from both. That the damage 

 done here by canker-worms was far less than elsewhere must 



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