162 USEFUL BIRDS. 
the “needles” after the Kinglets had left them, and could find 
nothing on them; but when a bird was disturbed before it had 
finished feeding, the spray from which it had been driven was 
invariably found to be infested with numerous black specks, 
the eggs of plant lice. Evidently the birds were cleaning 
each spray thoroughly, as far as they went. 
Since the above was written several of these infested sprays 
have been sent to Prof. F. E. L. Beal of the Biological 
Survey, who submitted them to Mr. Pergande of the Bureau 
of Entomology, who says that they are the eggs of a plant 
louse of the genus Lachnus, and in all probability Lachnus 
strobi, the white pine louse. The pines are considerably 
infested, and several pairs of Kinglets have been seen feed- 
ing upon the eggs. 
Again since the above was written I have had occasion to 
observe the work of Kinglets in our home grove of white 
pine. For the past two years certain plant lice or bark lice 
that infest these trees have been increasing so rapidly in 
the grove as to menace the trees; but on Dec. 29, 1905, 
seven Kinglets were seen feeding there. As it was unusual 
to see so many there, they were carefully watched. They 
were not working upon the foliage, as in the case mentioned 
above, but mainly on the trunks and larger branches. They 
were very unsuspicious, and it was easy to see that they 
were feeding upon the eggs of the aphids. Some of these 
eggs were sent to Dr. L. O. Howard, who gave it as his 
opinion that they belonged to some species of ZLachnus. 
These eggs were deposited in masses on the bark of the pines 
from a point near the ground up to a height of thirty-five feet. 
The trees must have been infested with countless thousands 
of these eggs, for the band of Kinglets remained there until 
March 25, almost three months later, apparently feeding most 
of the time on these eggs. When they had cleared the 
branches the little birds fluttered about the trunks, hanging 
poised on busy wing, like Hummingbirds before a flower, 
meanwhile rapidly pecking the clinging eggs from the bark. 
In those three months they must have suppressed hosts of 
little tree pests, for I have never seen birds more industrious 
and assiduous in their attentions to the trees. One might 
