506 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



A very interesting example of injury to paper birch (Betula 

 alba papyrifera) was found at Camp, behind my tent (1915), on 

 a tree overhanging the lakeshore, and near the large-toothed aspen 

 previously mentioned. This birch had been repeatedly attacked, 

 so that a distinct swelling had been caused in the trunk, as is shown 

 in figures 160 and 161 (cf. McAtee, '11, p. 19). This was the 

 only example of such a marked deformity. At five feet above the 

 ground this tree is 8.5 inches in diameter. The swelled girdled 

 area is within 3.5 feet of the ground, and extends over about one 

 foot of the trunk. At eight feet above the ground is another 

 extensive area, also of about one foot, but only slightly enlarged ; 

 at about 12 feet there is an area of about 6 inches in height, and 

 scattered punctures are found on the trunk at various levels. 



North of the Camp, along the trail near the lakeshore, and in 

 the cut-over forest, was observed injury on a yellow birch. A tree 

 ten inches in diameter was found about half-girdled, but only 

 about half of the distance had more than a single row of holes. 

 Just north of the line of tents at the Camp were numerous yellow 

 birches, six of which showed considerable work of the Sapsucker. 

 One dead tree at the edge of the lake bluff, about 1.1.5 inches in 

 diameter at five feet above the ground was almost completely 

 girdled from 5.5 inches from the ground upward for about four 

 feet. The holes are large, many rectangular, and some in the long 

 columns characteristic of extensive injury. 



A hemlock about 3.2 inches in diameter had a cluster of about 

 20 punctures, 5.5 feet above the ground, and higher up among 

 the branches was found an almost complete girdle of holes. Some 

 of the vertical rows were rather regular, as shown in figure 162a. 

 The best example, however, of prolonged and thorough drilling 

 in hemlock was found along a trail south of Camp, just beyond 

 Sucker Brook, in the cut-over area. This tree was six inches in 

 diameter and was thoroughly drilled with thousands of holes. The 

 lower part of the trunk is shown in figure 162b, exhibiting large 

 numbers of fresh, scattered holes, and a few well-defined horizontal 

 rows. Probably the majority of the old holes are of the same 

 character. In a few places the bark had been killed in vertical 

 rows ; and where the wound had healed a saw-toothed fringe of 

 old punctures in the bark clearly showed the cause of the 

 original injury. The general appearance of these old scars is 

 shown in the figure. (Cf. McAtee, 'it, plate 8, figure 4.) When 

 we consider the number of punctures on this tree we can only 

 wonder at the immense number of chances it involves for this 

 bird to carry fungus spores and thus innoculate trees, since it is 

 definitely known that spores are carried by birds. For our Ameri- 

 can birds this has only recently been established in the case of the 

 chestnut blight (Endothia parasitica Murr.), by Heald and Stud- 

 halter ('14). This is a fungus, however, which is not likely to be 

 of much importance in the Adirondacks. 



Injury to a beech was observed south of Camp, near the badly 

 injured aspens and yellow birches. The tree was near the lake- 



