ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS TO THE STATE. 



13 



birds will frequently visit bait provided for them and in time will eat a considerable 

 portion of the meat, they do not depend entirely on this aliment, but spend the 

 greater portion of their time in searching for eggs and insects in the immediate 

 vicinity. 



" Finding a plentiful supply of food, the Chickadees remained about the orchard 

 most of the winter, except for a week or two, when the meat gave out, but they 

 were lured back again later by a fresh supply which was placed in the trees. Not 

 only were the Chickadees attracted to the orchard in large numbers, but other birds 

 came also. A pair of Downy Woodpeckers (Dryobates pubescens) and two pairs of 

 Nuthatches {Sitta carolinensis) were frequent visitors, and a few Brown Creepers 

 {Certhia amcricand) came occasionally. All these paid frequent visits to the meat 

 and suet, and also thoroughly inspected the trees in search of insect food. They 

 made excursions also to the trees in the neighborhood, but the greater portion of 

 their attention was confined to the orchard in which the bait was suspended. As 

 they became more accustomed to Mr. Baily's presence, they grew quite tame and 

 could be viewed at a distance of a few feet. Indeed the Chickadees frequently 

 alighted on his person and occasionally took food from his hand. He was thus 

 enabled to determine accurately (without killing them) what they were feeding 

 upon, and was soon convinced that they were destroying the eggs of the canker 

 worm moth in large numbers, as well as the hibernating larvae and pups of other 

 insects injurious to trees.'' 



Investigation showed that this was the case, the stomachs of four birds containing 

 no less than 1,028 canker-worms' eggs, while one Chickadee had eaten 4.1 canker-worm 

 moths. As the moths at this season contained, on the average, 185 eggs each, it is 

 probable that this single bird destroyed over 7,000 canker-worms' eggs in a day. 

 Details of this interesting experiment are given in the statistical portion of this 

 report, here we may turn at once to Mr. Forbush's results. In the spring " it soon 

 became evident," he continues, that the neighboring orchards which had not been 

 under the birds' care, " would be entirely stripped of their leaves, while the old 

 orchard retained its full foliage. Thus it was seen that the trees to which the 

 Chickadees had been lured during the winter had been so well protected that the 

 summer birds were able to destroy the few remaining larvae, while the trees at a 

 distance from these contained so many larvae . that the birds were not numerous 

 enough to dispose of them or to make any effective reduction in their numbers. . k . 



" During the month of May an attempt was made to render the place as attrac- 

 tive to the birds as possible. The undergrowth, which previous to 1894 had been 

 trimmed out, was afterward allowed to grow, and in 1895 several low thickets had 



