BIRDS, CATERPILLARS, AND PLANT LICH. 143 
half‘a mile. I think the best bird to destroy the moths is the Kingbird. 
The Kingbirds came into the woods at 6.15 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. J 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 off the trunks of trees, and twelve were taken on the wing. 
The Cuckoos fed very little. I saw them take eight larve and three 
pup. The larvee 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 
feeding all the time. I saw them take several male gipsy 
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 pups 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 larvee, 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. 
