142 USEFUL BIRDS. 
All the above notes, taken, as they were, in different lo- 
calities in several different towns, seem to establish the fact 
that birds are not by any means indifferent to hairy larve. 
Reference may also be made to a summary of the observa- 
tions of a large number of men, published in 1896, which 
show the avidity with which certain birds eat the larve of 
the gipsy moth. 
Mr. Mosher’s notes, quoted above, fail to show the attrac- 
-tion of birds to caterpillar outbreaks, for at that time there 
were no great irruptions of any such insects in that region. 
The greatest swarms of gipsy moths and brown-tail moths 
had been suppressed by the work of the State Board of 
Agriculture, and neither the American tent caterpillar nor 
the forest tent caterpillar was in very great numbers. Going 
back to 1895, we find Mr. Bailey recording briefly his ex- 
perience in a visit to a destructive swarm of the gipsy moth. 
Mr. Henry Shaw and others give similar experiences. Mr. 
Shaw says : — 
JUNE 28, 1895.— The newly found colony of gipsy moths in Dor- 
chester seems to be a great attraction for birds of all kinds. In the 
last three days I have seen the Black-billed Cuckoo in great numbers 
eating larve, also the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I have seen the Cat- 
bird, Red-eyed Vireo, and Yellow-throated Vireo feeding on the larve 
of the gipsy moth. The-Red-eyed Vireos seem to be living on them. 
They take large ones, and swallow them whole. The Purple Grackles 
are around there apparently after the larve. 
Mr. Bailey says, regarding the gipsy moth : — 
JULY 27, 1895. —I left here at 4.15 a.m., and started for Woburn, 
to-see how many birds there were in the infested woods. I think there 
were more than I have seen at any one place this summer. The fol- 
lowing is a list of species seen: Chickadee, Black and White Creeper, 
Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Catbird, Crow, Blue Jay, 
Phoebe, Wood Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Kingbird, Towhee, Chipping 
Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Swamp Sparrow, Chestnut- 
sided Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Downy 
Woodpecker, Redstart, Baltimore Oriole, Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow- 
billed Cuckoo. Most of the birds left the woods by 11 a.M., or, if they 
did not, they kept very quiet after that hour. I think some of the birds 
have come a long way to feed here, for 1 saw some of them go about 
1 The Gipsy Moth, by E. H. Forbush and C. H. Fernald, 1896, pp. 206-243. 
