538 7^I7AySAC2IOyS of the AMEHICAy lySTJTVTE. 



been killed by cruel sportsmen and exposed for sale in Washington 

 market, and spoke as follows: Any one who wishes to learn the con- 

 dition of the fruit crops of the country can have no better place than 

 Washington market of New York. Quinces, the late pears, and 

 the winter supply of apples are now there. Those whose eyes have 

 been educated to see blemishes upon fruit will be astonished at find- 

 ing so many. The most apparent are those in the apples, and caused 

 by the apple moth. This insect is second in importance of all the 

 enemies of our fruits. This moth, like most other moths and butter- 

 flies, increases rapidly. Some deposit several hundred eggs at a 

 brood, and there are two broods of the apple moth each year. The 

 rules of arithmetic would show us how such a rate of increase would 

 so multiply all these enemies that all the apples of the country 

 would soon be appropriated by them, none left for us. But this 

 insect, like most others, has its checks. The weather sometimes 

 comes to our relief. Some insects feed upon other insects, and 

 many are destroyed by parasites. But I wish to speak now particu- 

 larly of birds as our friends in protecting us to a great extent against 

 the dangerous accumulation of insect enemies. Here is a bunch of 

 a dozen birds, already picked, bought in Washington market. Two 

 of them are the downy woodpecker. This is one of the woodpecker 

 family that remains with us all winter, and, like most of the others, 

 is exclusively insectivorous. Here are some specimens of apples, 

 like millions and millions of others every year, perforated through 

 and through by an insect, until it is out of shape, insipid, and almost 

 worthless. This is the work of the caterpillar of an apple moth. 

 This caterpillar, after feeding to maturity, leaves the apple and seeks 

 a place of concealment in w^hich to spin its cocoon. If the tree has 

 scales of bark large enough to suit its purpose it will take refuge 

 there, and there this downy woodpecker finds it. Here are scales of 

 bark from apple and pear trees, under which the remains of the 

 cocoons of this insect may be seen, and on the other side of each you 

 may observe a hole leading directly to the middle of that cocoon. 

 That hole was made by one of these downy woodpeckers, and 

 through it he has taken the caterpillar that had destroyed an apple. 

 I have long known that this terrible enemy of our fruits had its 

 enemy among the birds, but until I found in the stomach of one of 

 these downy woodpeckers several of these caterpillars, I was at loss 

 to know to which of the many birds we were so much indebted. 

 After long and })ainful watching I was able to identify this one, 



