BIRDS, CATERPILLARS, AND PLANT LIGE. 143 



half a mile. I think the best bird to destroy the moths is the Kingbird. 

 The Kingbirds came into the woods at 6.16 a.m. There were seven of 

 them, and they did nothing but hunt the moth until 9.30. I saw them 

 take seventy-nine males and twenty -four females. They dropped six 

 of the females. They would cut the wings off both males and females 

 with the bill. It is safe to say that the seven Kingbirds from 6.15 a.m. 

 to 9.80 A.M. killed two hundred and fifty males. I could not keep one 

 bird from the rest, so I took the number each time I saw a bird catch 

 one. I did not see the birds take any males except on the wing, and 

 most of the females were taken from branches of trees near the ground. 

 They almost all stopped feeding at one time, left the woods, and did 

 not come back while I was there. I saw the Chipping Sparrow take 

 five females; three were taken from the ground, two from a tree. 

 They took a number of males on the wing. They would peck both 

 males and females before eating them. There were six Least Fly- 

 catchers, and I saw them take thirty-one males and nine females. Two 

 of the female moths were caught by the birds when the moths were 

 falling from the tops of trees ; some other bird might have dropped 

 them. One was taken from the ground and six from the trunks of 

 trees near the ground. They took the wings off, just as the Kingbird 

 did. They took the moths only when they came near them. The 

 Wood Pewee took twenty -two males and seven females, that I saw. 

 There were three of these birds in the woods. Eight of the male moths 

 were taken oft the trunks of trees, and twelve were taken on the wing. 

 The Cuckoos fed very little. I saw them take eight larvse and three 

 pupsB. The larvEC were pecked several times before they were eaten. 

 I did not see them take any notice of the moths. The Black-billed 

 Cuckoo was hunting for a small larva in the tops of the trees ; I could 

 not get one to determine the species, but it was not the gipsy larva. 

 A large number of Chickadees came into the woods at 

 6.30 A.M., and stayed there until I left, but were not J<^^^\ 

 feeding all the time. I saw them take several male gipsy «rTr-»^ 

 moths from the bark of the trees, but did not see them 

 take any on the wing. I saw one bird take a female moth 

 and pick it all up in very small parts. Another bird took 

 a female, took only the wings off, and ate her. They were hunting 

 for some small insect that is feeding on the new leaves, but I could not 

 tell what it was. I saw eight pupre taken by the Chickadees, and all 

 of them were pecked open by the bird before any part was eaten. The 

 Baltimore Oriole came, found four small gipsy moth larva;, and I am 

 sure took one male moth on the wing. The Redstarts took several 

 male moths on the wing. A Yellow Warbler took a male moth from 

 the trunk of a tree and ate it. A number of Towhees were hunting for 

 the moths, and took the female as readily as the male. I saw them 

 take eighteen in all ; then they left the ground where they had been 

 hunting, and went into the tops of the trees, hunting for the moths. 



