THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 



87 



On those trees whose leaves drop off in autumn the eggs of 

 phint-lice are commonl}^ deposited in the crevices about the 

 buds. The eggs of the common apple aphis are indicated as 

 black specks about the buds in Fig. i ; 

 those of an abundant species on birch are 

 shown in Fig. 2 ; while Fig. 3 illustrates 

 the eggs of a species that lays its eggs in 

 great numbers upon the bark of willow 

 branches. Although it is impossible to 

 determine precisely the different species of 

 plant-lice from their eggs, there was rea- 

 son to believe that each of the species 

 shown in these three figures had been 

 eaten freely by the chickadees examined. 



Insect eggs of many other kinds were 

 found in the food of the chickadees. 

 Many of these it was impossible to recog- 

 nize, but there was no difficultv in iden- 

 tifying the eggs of the common American 

 Tent Caterpillar,^ the 'Q%% mass of wdiich 

 is illustrated in Fig. 4, and of the Fall 

 Canker Worm,- the egg-s of which as 

 found upon elm are represented in Fig. 5. 

 There were also present the eggs and 

 Q%% sacs of many spiders of kinds com- 

 monly occurring under loose bark (Fig. 

 6). While spiders as a class are doubt- 

 less beneficial creatures, the destruction 

 of some of them is not in my opinion se- y\g. -. Eggs of Plant- 

 riously detrimental to the usefulness of the lice on Bark of Willow. 



chickadee. (From a Photograph.) 



The larvae of several different kinds of moths were also 

 found. One of the most abundant species was believed to be 

 the common apple worm, the larva of the codling moth (Fig. 7)- 

 It was difficult to be sure of the species, because the heads of 

 the larvae were nearly always absent, but there is little doubt 



1 Clisiocatupa Americana. 



2 Anisopteryx pometaria. 



