BIRD ENEMIES OF THE CODLING MOTH. 243 



The economic value of these nestlings is commented upon by Prof. 

 Beal as follows: 



The oak tree in which these birds were found was in a belt of timber aiong 

 a creek, and just across the stream was a considerable area of neglected 

 orchard. It is evident that the parent birds used this orchard as a foraging 

 ground and did their best toward remedying the neglect of the owner. As with 

 nestling birds feeding and digestion are almost continuous during the hours of 

 daylight, it follows that the above record would be several times repeated dur- 

 ing a day's feeding There were probably not less than a dozen nests of the 

 bush tit (several were seen) along the border of this orchard, and if, as is 

 possible, the occupants all did as good work as the ones recorded, it is evident 

 that the birds must exert a powerful restrictive influence upon the increase of 

 the codling moth, as well as other insects. 1 



KINGLETS AND THRUSHES. 



One species of kinglet, the ruby-crowned (Regulus calendula), eats 

 codling larvae, as do also two species of the thrush family the robin 

 (Planesticus migratorius) and the bluebird (Sialia sialis). The 

 robin eats this insect in both the East and the West, and a stomach 

 from Pullman, Wash., contained 11 larvae. 



EFFICIENCY OF BIRD ENEMIES. 



We find that in the United States there are 36 species of birds, 

 belonging to 13 families, that feed on the codling moth. The three 

 important families seem to be woodpeckers, titmice, and sparrows. 

 Probably, however, future investigation may place some other family, 

 possibly warblers, among the first three. 



We have shown that certain species, as the downy woodpecker, 

 Bullock oriole, black-headed grosbeak, and bush tit, consume large 

 numbers of codling-moth larvae and pupae. It is probably only be- 

 cause of insufficient investigation that the same can not be said of 

 other birds. Although we can not accurately rank the species in 

 importance, we can confidently declare their utility collectively. 



Almost every entomologist who has written on the subject substan- 

 tially agrees with Slingerland that " by far the most efficient aids 

 to man in controlling the codling moth are the birds." 2 The two 

 facts that have chiefly led to this conclusion are the great scarcity of 

 intact hibernating cocoons and the abundance of empty ones which 

 have evidently been rifled by birds. Long ago Walsh and Eiley said : 3 



From the careful inspection of several large orchards in the early spring 

 months, we are convinced that almost all of the cocoons of the apple-worm moth 

 that have been constructed in the autumn on the trunks and limbs of apple 

 trees are gutted of their living tenants by hungry birds long before the spring 

 opens. 



1 Bui. 30, Biol. Survey, pp. 79-80, 1007. 



2 Bui. 142, Cornell Agr. Exp. Sta., p. 41, 1898. 

 8 American Entomology, I, p. 113, 1869. 



