308 BOARD OF AGRICULTUKE. [Pub. Doc. 



-worker, Mr. A. H. Kirkland, arc of especial interest, from 

 their accurate description of the manner in which eggs of 

 plant lice are destroyed by winter birds : — 



Many of our common aphides winter in the egg stage, these 

 eggs being attached to the buds or stalks of the food plants. The 

 large aphis common on willows lays obloug black eggs on the sides 

 of the buds late iu the fall. On Jan. 25, 1898, at the Arnold 

 Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, I saw a flock of about half a dozen 

 chickadees feeding on the eggs of this aphis. Some of the birds 

 while feeding came within ten or fifteen feet of the place where 

 I was standing, and I could observe plainly their movements. 



The aphis common to the white birch in this region lays great 

 masses of eggs on the buds and twigs. Some trees during the fall 

 of 1897 were so thoroughly covered with these eggs that the natural 

 color of the bark was obscured. This vast quantity of eggs served 

 as a storehouse of food for many of our winter birds, aud during 

 the days when the ground was covered with snow several species of 

 seed-eating birds were seen to feed ui)on them. Throughout the 

 winter the chickadees fed on these eggs. The fact was one of 

 almost daily observation. On March 10, 1898, while on a tramp 

 through the Middlesex Fells, I noticed a large flock of these birds 

 feeding iu the white birches that covered the southern exposure of 

 a hill. By entering the brushland in advance of the birds I was 

 soon in the midst of the flock, and, remaining motionless, had an 

 opportunity to observe them feeding upon the masses of the eggs. 

 A few days before this date I saw a downy woodpecker feeding 

 upou the eggs on a large white birch that was partly covered with 

 them. Goldfinches were also common visitors to the infested 

 bushes, especially after the snowstorms. The stomach of one of 

 these birds, taken at 8 a.m., Feb. 3, 1898, contained 2,210 eggs 

 of the white birch aphid. When other food was scarce the English 

 sparrow found these eggs a suitable article of diet, and one of these 

 birds, taken at 4 p.m., Jan. 29, 1898, contained 1,478 aphid eggs. 



A plant louse that is common on larches, often to an injurious 

 extent, is Chermes larcifolia Fitch. This insect lays great numbers 

 of stalked eggs in April and May, and the young lice resulting 

 feed on the juices of the leaves throughout the summer. At the 

 Bell Rock Cemetery, Maiden, April 20, 1898, 1 saw a flock of over 

 forty goldfinches feeding on the eggs and female lice. The birds 

 began feeding at the top of the trees, worked down to the lower 

 branches, then flew to the top of the next lareli and repeated the 

 performance. A few English sparrows also ate the eggs. 



During the past winter (1897-98) I have frequently seen chick- 



