296 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the eggs of such pests as the common tent caterpillar (Clisiocampa 
americana), the forest tent caterpillar (C. d/sstria), and the fall canker- 
worm (Anisopteryx pometariu) are eaten. In winter chickadees spend 
most of the daylight hours in searching trunks and branches of trees, 
inspecting every crevice in the bark and examining every bud for the 
insects’ eggs and hibernating insects, which constitute so large a part 
of their food. 
Mr. E. H. Forbush, ornithologist to the Massachusetts State board 
of agriculture, has shown how these birds may be attracted to the 
orchard in winter by hanging up pieces of suet, or bones with a little 
meat still attached to them.* In this way they are induced to leave 
the woods and live in the orchard during the winter, and finally to build 
their nests and rear their young there. 
CALIFORNIA BUSH-TIT.—Other species of titmice are quite as useful 
as the black-cap. Examination of the stomachs of a number of Cali- 
fornia bush-tits (Psaltriparus minimus) revealed the presence in con- 
siderable number of the black scale (Lecantum ole), which infests the 
olive. This insect has been a serious pest to the olive trees on the 
Pacific coast, and any bird that will destroy it should certainly be 
encouraged by Western fruit growers. The usefulness of titmice de- 
pends largely upon the small size of the birds. In dealing with pests 
of any kind, the more minute they are the less the probability that man 
can by his own unaided efforts succeed in exterminating them. Plant 
lice and bark lice are, on this account, difficult of destruction by human 
agency, and are too small to attract the attention of many of our 
ordinary birds; but to the chickadees they must appear of considerable 
size, and so are easily found and eaten. The eggs of insects, especially 
those sof such small species as plant lice, are often so minute as to 
escape the closest search by man; but the more microscopic eyes of 
these small birds detect them even in crevices of buds or bark. 
NUTHATCHES AND CREEPER. 
Frequent associates of the chickadees, and doing practically the 
same work, are the nuthatches and the brown creeper. The nuthatches 
are of about the same size as the chickadees, but are more agile tree 
climbers, in this respect excelling all othr North American birds. 
While woodpeckers and titmice usu: ally run up the trunks, nuthatches 
run up or down, or along the underside of a horizontal branch, with 
equal facility, aud do not depend upon the tail for support. The 
brown creeper, like the chickadec, is constantly engaged during the 
day in searching for insects’ eggs and small insects in the crevices of 
the bark. It is an active, nervous little creature, which flits rapidly 
from one tree to another, generally alighting upon the trunk near the 
? Mags. Crop Reports, p. 349, 1895. 
