SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 



169 



p. 150, in which an attempt was made to foster and pro- 

 tect the birds in an old and neglected orchard, with a view 

 to observing the effect of such a policy u[)on the trees. 

 The Chickadees Avere at- 

 tracted to the orchard in 

 winter, and were seen 

 destroying thousands of 

 eggs of the fall canker- 

 worm moth, and many 

 egg-bearing females as 

 well. A few of the birds 

 were killed, and their stomachs examined for evidence cor- 

 roborative of our observations. The following notes are 

 taken from the record of the experiment, as published in 

 the annual report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agri- 

 culture for 189") : — 



Fig. 5 '2. — Fall cankerworm moth: a, male 

 inotli; /), wingless female moth; c, (^, structural 

 details. 



Eo-o's of the fall cankerworm foiuid in stomachs of Chickadees : — 



Bird No. 1, 

 Bird No. 2, 



Eggs. 



216 

 278 



Making in all ten hundred and twenty-eight eggs found in the stomachs 

 of four birds. Four birds killed later in the season had eaten the 

 female imagoes of the spring cankerworm (^Paleacrita verna(a), as 

 follows : — 



Bird No. 1, 

 Bird No. 2, 



Moths. 



27 

 19 



Making a total of one hundred and five. In Nos. 2, 3, and 4 of the last 

 table there were a large number of eggs also. It is safe to say that 

 there were one hundred and fifty eggs in each stomach, in addition to 

 the female moths eaten. 



Fig. 53. — Apple twig, with eggs of the cankerworm moth. These eggs are eaten by 



the Chickadee. 



Mr. C. E. Bailey carefully counted the eggs in the ovaries of twenty 

 of these female moths, with the following resvdts : — 



