104 



USEFUL BIRDS. 



Avinter the smaller wood birds that remain in the north must 

 subsist largely on the hibernating eggs of insects, for many 

 insects pass the colder months in the egg ; the bird that eats 

 these eggs can destroy at least a hundred times as many 



insects in this minute, embry- 

 onic form as it could in the 

 summer, after the caterpillars 

 had hatched and grown toward 

 maturity. The Jays, Titmice, 

 Nuthatches, and Woodpeckers, 

 which remain through the win- 

 ter in the northern woods, give 

 months more of service to our 

 trees than do the majority of 

 birds that come here as sum- 

 mer residents or migrants only. 

 ■These all-the-jr ear-round birds, 

 with the Creepers and Kinglets, 

 are the most valuable guardians 

 of the wood. Millions upon 

 millions of insects and their eggs are destroyed by them 

 during the long winter months. In this work they are 

 assisted to some extent by certain of the winter Finches 

 and Sparrows. ' 



Birds guard All Parts of the Tree. — Even insects which 

 feed upon the roots are dug out of the ground by birds, or 

 attacked by these feathered enemies whenever they appear 

 above the surface. Sparrows, Thrushes, and Towhees search 

 among the dead leaves for caterpillars which drop from the 

 trees and crawl on the ground, and for those which pupate 

 among the litter of the forest floor. "Woodpeckers, tapping 

 the trunks, find and bring forth injurious ants, bark beetles, 

 and wood-boring insects. Creepers, Kinglets, Titmice, and 

 Nuthatches search the bark and cavities of the trunk and 

 limbs for insects' eggs, scale insects, bark lice, borers, bark 

 beetles, and other insects which hide there. Jays, "Warblers, 

 Tanagers, Wrens, Titmice, Vireos, Cuckoos, and other tree- 

 loving birds pry about among the leaves and branches in 

 search of caterpillars of all sorts. Even the hidden leaf- 



Fig. 34. — Winter tree guards, 

 Creeper and a Xuthatch. 



