No. 4.] BIRDS AS PROTECTORS OF ORCHARDS. 355 



give results of all observations and dissections in detail. 

 We can merely give the apparent results of the presence of 

 the birds in the orchard. 



It was found that these birds were not only destroying 

 the eggs of the. canker-worm in this orchard, but were feed- 

 ing on the eggs of the same insect in the woods where bait 

 had been suspended. 



As the frost left the ground on the first warm days of 

 spring the wingless females of the spring canker-worm moth 

 appeared in the orchard and began ascending the trees in 

 great numbers. The chickadees commenced catching and 

 eating the females and their eggs. Mr. Bailey placed 

 twenty-two of the females on one tree, and in a few minutes 

 twenty of them were captured and eaten by chickadees. 



It was noticed as spring approached and insects became 

 more numerous that the chickadees came very seldom to the 

 meat. They were not as assiduous in their attention to 

 the orchard, and a small portion of their food consisted of 

 the early gnats which were flying on bright, sunny days. 

 In early April they had nearly deserted the meat, although 

 they still frequented the orchard in search of the female 

 canker-worm moths. They seemed to prefer animal food 

 to all other, and even in cold weather would hardly notice 

 grain or seeds of any kind, though one individual ate a few 

 oat kernels which were placed near his accustomed feed of 

 meat. 



Towards the last of April the English or house sparrow 

 (Passer domesticus) began to make its appearance in the 

 vicinity and apparently drove the chickadees to the woods, 

 as they disappeared and did not nest in the orchard, bu1 

 remained in the woods, where they paired and nested. 



I believe that the English sparrow is largely responsible 

 for the fact that chickadees are not now found nesting in 

 our orchards. Though they still nest in the orchards on 

 the remoter farms and in the villages where the English 

 sparrow is not numerous, they seem to have disappeared in 

 summer from orchards near cities. At the time of the ad- 

 vent of the sparrow in this locality, twenty-five years ago, 

 chickadees were often found nesting in old apple-trees in 



