Habits, and Poioer for Injury. 91 



Next to vegetables and cereals, they relish the leaves of 

 fruit trees; they strip apple and sweet cherry trees, leaving 

 nothing but the fruit hanging on the bare twigs. The 

 leaves of the peach are generally left untouched, but the 

 flesh of the unripe fruit is eaten to the stone. Pear trees, 

 as Prof. Gale informs me, suffered less than any other kind 

 of orchard tree at the Experimental farm of the Agricul- 

 tural College at Manhattan, Kansas. The tender bark of 

 twig and branch and trunk of all these trees is gnawed 

 and girdled, and these girdled trees present a sad picture 

 as one passes through the ravaged country during the 

 subsequent winter. Sour cherry, apricot and plum trees 

 are less affected by them, while ripe fruit is seldom 

 touched. 



Of berries, strawberries and blackberries are devoured 

 where raspberries are frequently unmolested. Flowering 

 shrubs very generally suffer, and they are particularly fond 

 of Rose and Lilac. Of herbaceous plants, Helianthus, 

 Amarantus and Xanthium are eaten with especial avidity. 

 Grape vines suffer more from the girdling of the fruit- 

 stems than from defoliation. Forest and shade trees suffer 

 in different degrees, and some, when young, are not infre- 

 quently killed outright. 



In 1874, Honey Locust, Red Cedar, Box Elder, Osage 

 Orange, Elm and Oak, were either untouched or but little 

 injured, while the following trees were preferred in the 

 order of their naming ; Ash, Willow, Cottonwood, Balm 

 of Gilead, Silver-leaved and Lombardy Poplars, Black 

 Ash, Black Locust, Black Walnut, Hickory, Ailanthus, 

 Maple, Sumach and Evergreens. In every case they show 

 a marked preference for plants that are unhealthy or 

 wilted. In 1876 they in some cases showed a partiality 

 for some plants that were passed by on other occasions, 

 and their tastes are quite eccentric. 



