26 BIRDS OF A MARYLAIN^D FARM. 



ingj 20 birds, principally kingbirds, wrens, and chipping sparrows 

 were collected. None of them had molested it. On the Bryan farm, 

 in lot 3, it was so abundant that it killed every plant in a patch of sev- 

 eral acres. The lot was watched for an hour or two for three days, but 

 no birds were seen coming to the relief of the dying plants. On the 

 Hungerf ord farm, 21 birds, largely wrens, barn swallows, and cat- 

 birds, were collected near infested plots, and one bird, a catbird, was 

 found to have eaten a tortoise beetle. This fact appears to show that 

 the insect is not unpalatable to catbirds, which might therefore have 

 given some help to the potatoes if cherries had not been so plentiful. 



Cabbages. — Three pests attacked cabbages — the wavy-striped liea- 

 beetle, the common cabbage worm, and the harlequin cabbage bug. 

 During the middle of June, 1899, the beetle was found in numbers 

 varying from a dozen to a score on each plant of a cabbage patch on 

 the Hungerford place, near the dell where the crow blackbirds breed. 

 No birds were observed among the cabbages. Ten catbirds were col- 

 lected in the dell, but they had fed mosth' on Ma^^-flies. If these 

 tempting insects had not been present, and if birds had come into 

 the patch, doubtless they would haA^e eaten the beetle, for it is closely 

 allied to other forms on the farm that are eaten with avidity. The 

 cabbage worm {PJeris rapse) did considerable damage during June 

 and July of 1896 and 1899 in the Bryan kitchen garden. From six 

 to a dozen worms could be found on every cabbage. A few stomachs 

 of catbirds, chipping sparrows, and other species numerous around 

 the garden were collected, but none contained the worms. The patch 

 was carefully watched for live days. Song sparrows, catbirds, and 

 chipping sparrows frequenth^ hopped among the cabbages, but were 

 not seen to eat the worms. This was surprising in the case of the 

 chipping sparrow, for it is known to hop up into cabbage plants and 

 extract the larvae. In one instance the kingbird fed on the butterfly 

 of the cabbage worm. The harlequin cabbage bug occurred onl}^ once 

 in injurious numbers, and then on the Marshall farm. From 20 to 50 

 bugs could be counted on each plant. Several field sparrows and grass- 

 hopper sparrows, the only species near the patch, were collected, but 

 had not taken the bugs. Other observations have shown that birds do 

 not like these insects, and consequentlv can not be depended on to 

 destro}^ them. 



Lima beans.- -During the last week of June, 1899, the 12-spotted 

 cucumber beetle {Diahrotica 12-]?unctata) was ver}" abundant on lima 

 beans, though not injuring them serioush^ Twent}^ birds were col- 

 lected close by, half of them chipping sparrows and the others king- 

 birds, house wrens, and goldfinches. None had eaten the beetles. 

 The bob white and the white-eyed vireo, which feed on them, were not 

 at hand. 



