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ever, that the nuthatches were eating many scales which they found 

 on the limbs of the apple-trees in a neighboring orchard. In rela- 

 tion to these scales the following note from Mr. Kirkland is of 

 interest : — 



" March 20, 1895. Mr. Bailey brought in specimens of apple 

 twigs infested with the bark scale louse, Mytilaspis pomorum. 

 He reported that the nuthatch was feeding on them. These twigs 

 were infested in a worse manner than I have ever seen before. 

 They were literally covered with the scales. On one small twig, 

 one-half inch in diameter, I counted 367 scales on one inch of the 

 twig. The eggs contained in a number of scales varied from 62 

 to 83, with an average of 70." 



These scales, when numerous, are very injurious to the apple-tree. 

 Each scale covered a dead female of the preceding year and the 

 hibernating eggs, many of which must have been disposed of by 

 the nuthatches. It was shown, both by observation and dissec- 

 tion, that birds feeding in the same neighborhood and upon the 

 same trees showed considerable variance in the character of their 

 food. Kinglets taken had no canker-worm eggs, but had eaten 

 largely of bark borers. Woodpeckers seemed to confine them- 

 selves to the larvae of borers and to wood-ants and other insects 

 which bore into the wood of the tree. Chickadees and nuthatches 

 ate the pupae and eggs of insects found upon the bark or in the 

 crevices of the trunks. No birds were seen to eat the eggs of the 

 tent caterpillar, nor were any found in the stomachs of any of 

 the birds examined. It seems probable that these eggs are so pro- 

 tected by a hard covering that they are not eaten by most birds. 



It is impossible, in the limited space at our command, to give 

 results of all observations and dissections in detail. We can 

 merely give the apparent results of the presence of the birds in 

 the orchard. 



It was found that these birds were not only destroying the eggs 

 of the canker-worm in this orchard, but were feeding on the eggs 

 of the same insect in the woods where bait had been suspended. 



As the frost left the ground on the first warm days of spring the 

 wingless females of the spring canker-worm moth appeared in the 

 orchard and began ascending the trees in great numbers. The 

 chickadees commenced catching and eating the females and their 

 eggs. Mr. Bailey placed twenty-two of the females on one tree, 

 and in a few minutes twenty of them were captured and eaten by 

 chickadees. 



It was noticed as spring approached and insects became more 

 numerous that the chickadees came very seldom to the meat. 

 They were not as assiduous in their attention to the orchard, and a 



