BIRD ENEMIES OF FOREST INSECTS 



687 



There is ho doubt 

 about the liking 

 birds have for smooth 

 caterpillars, and one 

 of the most common 

 and injurious groups 

 of these larvae- 

 canker worms are 

 known to be eaten by 

 more than fifty spe- 

 cies of birds. In Cal- 

 ifornia, the Brewer 

 blackbird is a serious 

 foe of canker worms 

 and has been credited 

 upon several occa- 

 sions with clearing 

 orchards of the pests. 

 In Massachusetts, 

 the Baltimore oriole 

 has been observed 

 to achieve the same 

 desirable end. Or- 

 chardists should be 

 grateful indeed when 

 birds as beneficial as 

 these make homes 

 among their trees. 



Another smooth 

 caterpillar of almost 

 historical importance 

 is the larva of the 

 snow-white linden 

 moth. These larvae 

 known as drop- 





H 



Blackburnian Warblers 



the wood warblers are a large family of small birds found nowhere 

 outside of the americas. they are fond of plant lice, scale insects 

 and other small but often dangerous enemies of trees 



worms became ex- 

 cessively abundant 

 in some of the larger 

 eastern cities from 

 1850 to 1870 and 

 were the subject of 

 voluminous com- 

 ment in the press. 

 It is said that the 

 English sparrow was 

 introduced for the 

 purpose of suppress- 

 ing this insect, and 

 as Prof. G. W. Her- 

 rick relates "so well 

 did this bird do its 

 work that for nearly 

 a half century we 

 have heard almost 

 nothing about this 

 insect as a shade- 



White Breasted Nut-Hatch 



A BIRD WHICH DEVOTES ITSELF TO FINDING INSECTS, THEIR LARVAE AND EGGS 

 WHICH ARE CONCEALED IN CREVICES IN THE BARK OF TREES 



