OF FRUIT TREES. 95 



It is well known, that several species of birds 

 feed voraciously upon the canker worm, and other 

 tribes of insects ; it would be advantageous, there- 

 fore, to encourage -the increase of the feathered 

 tribe, by all the means in our power. 



CATERPILLARS. 



These vermin are so truly disgusting in their na- 

 ture and appearance, and so injurious by their de- 

 vastations, that every farmer should consider it dis- 

 graceful, to suffer his orchard to be infested by 

 them; yet it is not uncommon to see numerous 

 branches of valuable fruit trees entwined with nests, 

 filled with these industrious reptiles, by which the 

 foliage and fruit are destroyed. During an excur- 

 sion this season, I have witnessed the disgustful sight 

 of more than twenty large caterpillars' nests on a 

 single tree, and almost every green leaf devoured. 

 It would consist more with the interest and credit 

 of the proprietor, were such neglected trees no 

 longer permitted to encumber the ground. 



The eggs from which caterpillars are produced, 

 are attached in clusters to the small twigs by a 

 brownish coloured miller, in the month of August, and 

 are securely covered with a gummy substance, unsus- 

 ceptible of injury by the weather during winter. The 

 young brood is hatched by the warmth of the sun, 

 just in time to prey upon the fresh leaves as they 

 appear in the spring. The numerous family from 

 each cluster of eggs, immediately unite in the labour 

 of constructing a nest of strong web, which affords 

 them a shelter from the inclemency of the weather, 

 and a secure retreat from the dews at night. They 

 continue to feed upon the leaves until about the 

 last of June, when they abandon their habitation, 

 and stroll to some dry, secure place, where they 

 envelop themselves in a close covering of an egg- 

 shaped, roundish ball, very similar to the cocoon of 



