SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 255 
eat away the wood, and thus destroy the leading shoot or 
main stem of the tree. As the side shoots grow upward 
they also are attacked, and the tree is ruined for timber. 
Instead of growing a tall, straight trunk, it grows straggling 
branches. Quite often the leading shoot of a tree is attacked 
Fig. 118.— Pine top killed by pine Fig. 114.— Tree crooked and ruined for 
weevil. timber by pine weevil. 
in this way year after year. Each attack results in a crook 
in the trunk, and the tree when grown is fit only for kindling 
wood. Perhaps no insect isa greater pest to the lumberman 
than this. While examining the work of this insect in a 
fine grove of young white pines I saw that many of the bur- 
rows had been perforated by birds, and the grubs extracted. 
It appears that Dr. Fitch also noticed this, for he says that 
small birds are very efficient in ferreting out and devouring 
