ORCHARD PESTS 79 



Meanwhile, let us not forget the birds. If only we would 

 grasp the fact that insectivorous httle birds Hke the 

 Golden-crested Wren and the Tits ought not to have been 

 driven away we should do a great deal to render our 

 orchards immune from the attacks of these larvae. 



The female Winter Moth leaves her fence when ready to 

 lay and crawls up the tree-trunks to place her greenish 

 eggs in the crevices of the bark. Banding the trees with 

 a mixture of tar and cart-grease must be done in November, 

 and repeated to keep it fresh. Thus the moths will be 

 prevented from getting up into the branches. Pruning 

 must be delayed until after Christmas, as by then aU 

 eggs have been deposited and the moths are dead. The 

 prunings should be burnt. After this nothing further 

 can be done than to leave the titmice and bullfinches to 

 pick out any eggs or newly hatched larvae which will soon 

 eat their way into the buds in spring . Later on," beating " 

 is useful as if the tree is struck with a cloth- or 

 rubber-covered mallet the jarring will dislodge numbers 

 of caterpillars, which lower themselves by their silken 

 threads and so may be collected and destroyed. 



The pupae of this moth may be sought on the surface 

 of the ground at the base of the trees in June until Novem- 

 ber and cleared away for the fowls. 



Arsenical spraying of the trunks is useful, but it should 

 be noted that the female moth lays her eggs all over the 

 tree, so that the whole of it must be done. Even then 

 the wind blows the thread-borne larvae from place to 

 place, and I would therefore rather emphasize constant 

 vigilance at the various times indicated above. 



There are other Winter Moths, such as the Mottled 

 Umber {H. defoliaria) and the March Moth (A. cescularia), 

 which attack fruit trees and are also harmful in woods. 

 They too have wingless females, and treatment as de- 

 scribed above also applies. (See Plate 18.) 



In some parts the Vapourer Moth {Orgyia antiqua) has 

 been found troublesome. This is a summer moth with a 



