How to Attract the Birds 



selves lucky to enter a neighborhood infested by 

 them. The sudden appearance of a new insect pest 

 often attracts large numbers of birds not commonly 



seen in the 

 neighborhood. 

 If dead or muti- 

 lated larva? of 

 tent caterpillars 

 are seen near the 

 torn tent it was 

 probably opened 

 by an oriole, for 

 the cuckoo does 

 his work more 

 thoroughly, leav- 

 ing no remains. 

 The black-billed 

 cuckoo has been 

 an invaluable ally 

 of the farmers in 

 their herculean 

 task of destroy- 

 ing the gypsy 

 moth, an alarm- 

 ing pest which, 

 although only 

 recently intro- 

 duced from Eu- 

 rope, has already 

 laid waste large sections of New England. The 

 stomach of a single yellow -billed cuckoo examined 

 contained two hundred and seventeen fall web- 

 worms ! Hairs have been considered a means of 



178 



An important item on the Baltimore Oriole's bill 

 of fare (smooth Caterpillar) 



