Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 42J 



gleaning from a spruce tree, — or a House Wren, or a Catbird, or a 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, or a Rusty Blackbird, or a Wood Pewee. 



In reviewing the records of observers in eastern Canada and in 

 northern Maine it becomes evident that the spruce is there more 

 commonly utilized than here as a nesting place, and its needles as 

 nesting materials. The Magnolia Warbler especially seems to pre- 

 fer this kind of tree for its home, and Gerald Thayer thinks that 

 " Spruce Warbler " would be an appropriate name for it, quite as 

 appropriate as " Birch Warbler " for the Nashville. " The Mag- 

 nolia keeps to the spruces (and other conifers) at least as strictly 

 as the Nashville keeps to the birches (and other broad-leaf trees). 

 The feeding range or ' beat ' of this Warbler in its chosen summer 

 woodlands about Monadnock, lies between the tip-tops of second 

 growth spruce trees and their lowest branches. Although not shy, 

 it is apt to stick rather closely to the inner recesses of spruce 

 clumps, less often showing itself on the outermost twigs than do 

 the Blackburnian and Black-throated Green." The same might be 

 said of the habits of the Black-poll Warbler in the same locality 

 and northward. 



The spruces are commonly infested with bark beetles and wood- 

 boring beetles. I am reminded of a statement by McAtee 

 ('15, p. 862) that the birds in general destroy large numbers of the 

 bark beetles that are among the worst pests of our forests. " They 

 feed just beneath the bark, forming tunnels which in many cases 

 girdle and thus kill the trees." He asserts that " The spruce- 

 destroying bark beetle has been responsible for the loss of many 

 billions of feet of timber in the northeastern United States," and 

 quotes Dr. A. D. Hopkins, of the United States Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, in giving birds the credit for devouring this beetle, as 

 follows : " The principal enemy of the spruce-destroying beetle, 

 and other bark-infesting enemies of the spruce, consists of the 

 Woodpeckers, which destroy, it is believed, from 50 to 75 per cent 

 of the broods of the spruce-beetle in manv hundreds of trees each 

 year." 



The Balsam Fir and the Birds. The fir (Abies balsamea) 

 grows in the virgin woods in a tall, symmetrical form, sending up- 

 ward a slender conical spire that pierces the surrounding canopy in 

 marked contrast to the clustered foliage of the deciduous trees asso- 

 ciated with it. Its distribution is general on the Adirondack for- 

 ested plateau, and, like the spruce, in localities lumbered in an early 

 day it has commonly reproduced itself by a vigorous second growth. 

 This fir produces medium-sized cones that stand erect on the upper 

 side of the branches. They reach maturity in the fall, and the seeds 

 become a staple article of food for the birds in late autumn and 

 winter. This tree ranks high as a favorite in the mixed forest in 

 the several uses made of it by the birds, and it is probably visited 

 by larger numbers in the course of a season than any other conifer. 

 Birds freely select the fir for nesting sites, constantly search it for 

 insects, and resort to it for protection and seclusion. The Cross- 

 bills are characteristic birds of the balsam, eating its buds in the 



