REPORT ON FORESTvS. 



213 



shoots, or the}' may bore in at the base of the new growth, caus- 

 ing it to wilt ; girdlers find the branches attractive, and a great 

 variety of creatiires, chiefly beetles and flies, with a few Hymen- 

 opteroiis species, perhaps, continue the attack from above. 



Figure 4.— A stick of oak, 4 inches in diameter, sliowing woodpecker holes 

 made to get at a borer inside 



Now comes another factor — the woodpecker and its allies, that 

 make war iipon the borers. The}' peck and hammer away at 

 infested spots, and many a fat borer falls' prey to their activitA' 

 and industry, but wherever the}' haul out a specimen they leave 

 a hole, and that is, too often, an entrance point for the water, 

 that, after all, is as much to be dreaded in the tree as it is useful 

 when it reaches the roots through the soil. 



