142 USEFUL BIRDS. 



All the above notes, taken, as they were, in different lo- 

 calities in several different towns, seem to establish the fact 

 that Ijirds are not by an}- means indifferent to hairy larvse. 

 Reference may also be made to a summary of the observa- 

 tions of a large number of men, published in 1896, which 

 show the avidity with which certain birds eat the larvai of 

 the gips}^ moth.^ 



Mr. Mosher's notes, quoted above, fail to show the attrac- 

 tion of birds to caterpillar outbreaks, for at that time there 

 were no great irruptions of any such insects in that region. 

 The greatest swarms of gipsy moths and brown-tail moths 

 had been suppressed by the Avork of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, and neither the American tent caterpillar nor 

 the forest tent caterpillar were in very great numbers. Going 

 back to 1895, we find Mr. Bailey recording briefly his ex- 

 perience in a visit to a destructive swarm of the gipsy moth. 

 Mr. Henry Shaw and others give similar experiences. jNIr. 

 Shaw says : — 



June 28, 1895. — The newly found colon}- of gipsy moths in Dor- 

 chester seems to be a great attraction for birds of all kinds. In the 

 last three days I have seen the Black-billed Cuckoo in great numbers 

 eating larva% also the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I have seen the Cat- 

 bird, Red-eyed Vireo, and Yellow -throated Vireo feeding on the larvas 

 of the gipsy moth. The Red-eyed Vireos seem to be living on them. 

 They take large ones, and swallow them whole. The Purple Grackles 

 are around there aj^parently after the larvaj. 



Mr. Bailey says, regarding the gipsy moth : — 



July 27, 1895. — I left hei'e at 4.15 a.m., and started for Woburn, 

 to see how many birds there were in the infested woods. I think tliere 

 were more than I have seen at any one place this summer. The fol- 

 lowing is a list of species seen : Chickadee, Black and White Creej)er, 

 Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Catbird, Crow, Blue Jay, 

 Phoebe, Wood Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Kingbird, Towhee, Chipping 

 Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Swamp Sparrow, Chestnut- 

 sided Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Downy 

 Woodpecker, Redstart, Baltimore Oriole, Black -billed Cuckoo, Yellow- 

 billed Cuckoo. Most of the birds left the woods by 11 a.m., or, if they 

 did not, they kept very quiet after that hour. I think some of the birds 

 have come a long way to feed here, for I saw some of them go about 



» The Gipsy Moth, by E. H. Forbush and C. H. Fernald, 1896, pp. 206-243. 



