BIRD ENEMIES OF FOREST INSECTS 



683 



borers. Their work is similar to that of 

 the bark-beetles in that their excava- 

 tions under the bark frequently result in 

 girdling the trees. The larvae of these 

 beetles are the especial prey of wood- 

 peckers; all kinds of woodpeckers eat 

 them and usually as a regular article of 

 diet. The three-toed woodpeckers, of 

 which there are two species inhabiting 

 the northern part of the country, are 

 very fond of these larvae and make of 

 them no less than 

 three-fourths of their 

 entire food. The 

 hairy woodpecker also 

 has a great relish for 

 wood -boring larvae, 

 and from a score to 

 more than four score of 

 the borers have been 

 taken at a meal by 

 single birds. The flat- 

 headed apple tree bor- 

 er, a pest in various 

 parts of the United 

 States, is eaten by the 

 downv woodpecker. 

 Prof. R. A. Cooley, of 

 the Montana Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, says of this 

 bird : ' ' Besides pick- 

 ing up miscellaneous 

 pests, it locates the 

 burrows of this borer 

 and extracts them in 

 considerable numbers. 

 In the older orchards 

 of Montana scarcely 

 a tree can be found 

 that does not bear 

 the marks of wood- 

 peckers, a large pro- 

 portion of which are 

 made by this species." 

 Certain kinds of 

 caterpillars also bore 

 timber, and one kind in 

 particular, that of the 

 leopard moth, is very 

 destructive to shadetrees. In various 

 localities, it has been noted that this 

 species is held in check by native 

 birds. "No other explanation," says 

 Dr. W. E. Britton, "can be given of 

 the scarcity of the leopard moth in the 

 country, adjacent to infested towns, 



except the presence of insectivorous 

 birds. * * * Mr. James Walker, of New- 

 ark, N. J., states "that infested elms 

 placed in a nursery outside the city 

 limits of Newark were rid of the lar- 

 vae by woodpeckers." 



The work begun by the wood-borers 

 is continued by ants. Trees that would 

 otherwise have value, at least for fire- 

 wood, arc hollowed out by ants until 

 they arc mere fragile shells, ready to 



THE UPPER IS THE 

 PECKER FAMILY 

 THE TREES 



Red Headed Woodpecker 



adult bird, the lower the young bird. the wood- 

 takes the lead in the destruction of enemies of 



topple over at the first storm and of no 

 value whatever. The ants that do this 

 work in the United States are mostly 

 the large black species, frequently 

 known as carpenter-ants. They have 

 a host of bird enemies. Fully fifty 

 species of birds are now known to eat 



