126 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



other hairy cjiterpillars. It is a great feeder on the plant 

 lice (Aphidce), and the bark beetles (^Scolytidm) are also 

 eaten by it. These insect families comprise some of our 

 worst tree pests. These birds are continually searching 

 over the bark of the trunks, limbs and twigs of trees. In 

 this occupation they find and destroy the eggs of moths 

 and plant lice, the cocoons of the codling moths (^Carpo- 

 capsa ^JO/>io/?.e?Zfl ) , case bearers (^MicroJepidrptera), leaf 

 miners and many injurious minute insects. They also open 

 twigs infested by borers, removing them Vith certainty, 

 though with less skill than the woodpeckers exhibit. Nor 

 is their work confined wholly to the trees and shrubbery, 

 for in the early si)ring, when the snow has gone and the 

 warm sun begins to cause the first stir of life among hiber- 

 nating insects hidden in the forest floor, the chickadees 

 descend to the ground, where they search among the leaves, 

 extracting worms from decaying chestnuts or acorns which 

 have been overlooked by jays and squirrels, or digging out 

 })upie which have either hibernated among the leaves on the 

 ground or fallen with them from the trees. Such insect 

 food as gi\'en above forms the main part of this bird's suste- 

 nance, nor has it any bad habits, so far as known. AMkmi 

 driven by extremity, it may eat a few bits from worthless 

 apples frozen upon the trees, or pick up a few fragments 

 of corn or oats by the roadside or in barnyard or poultrj^ 

 yard ; but apparently it prefers, in such cases, the berries 

 of the sumach, and never injures cultivated fruit or grain 

 of any value. It has none of the bad habits of some of 

 its European relatives. Its nesting habits and its confid- 

 ing nature led to the belief that it might be so domesti- 

 cated as to become as attached to our homes, in time, as 

 the English sparrow is to-day. What a benefit might have 

 been conferred on our city parks, had we induced these 

 birds to breed there, instead of importing the redoubtable 

 sparrow ! 



European titmice breed quite freely in boxes put up for 

 them, and their numbers can be increased readily under 

 man's protection. The American crested titmouse is said to 

 breed occasionally about human habitations ; but the chick- 



