AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 91 



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Fig. 1. A barberry branch defoliated by tent caterpillars. 



In the tent caterpillar bulletin, the natural euemies of the 

 insect are briefly treated of. Since its publication I have 

 received a letter from Mr. W. F. Fiske, of Mast Yard, New 

 Hampshire, from which I am glad to extract this statement : 

 "I do not think you lay enough stress on the value of the 

 chickadee as an exterminator of the tent caterpillar. I have 

 repeatedly seen them tear open the cocoon for the pupa con- 

 tained therein, and have credited them with a great many 

 cocoons thus opened, which I have seen. If in the neighbor- 

 hood of infested orchards, these birds were fed in the winter 

 and proper nesting places provided in the breeding season, it 

 would be possible to colonize them there to the great benefit of 

 the apple crop. A thick clump of spruces or other close- 

 growing evergreens would be of good service to shelter the 

 birds in the winter, and with good shelter and plenty of food 

 they would not only be likely to colonize there in numbers, but 

 it might also save the lives of individuals which would other- 

 wise perish from exposure and lack of food." I am glad to 



