30 
Psyche 
[February 
THE EFFICIENCY OF BIRDS IN DESTROYING OVER- 
WINTERING LARVAE OF THE EUROPEAN CORN 
BORER IN NEW ENGLAND . 1 
By Geo. W. Barber. 
Cereal and Forage Crop Insect Investigations, Bureau of En- 
tomology, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. 
Several years ago, not long after investigations of the 
European corn borer ( Pyrausta nubilalis Hiibn.) were begun by 
the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, it was frequently observed that cornstalks infested 
by the larvae of this insect showed in the spring of the year 
numerous holes along the stalks, the burrows of the insect 
beneath these holes being empty. This was the first evidence 
of any appreciable feeding by birds on this insect. Such evidence 
of bird feeding has been found each spring and it is now possible 
to associate this work with the downy woodpecker ( Dryobates 
pubescens medianus Swainson) a winter resident in this region. 
In numerous instances, this bird has been observed at close 
range at work on the infested standing cornstalks. Plate 1a, 
shows sections of cornstalks from which the larvae of the corn 
borer have been removed by this bird. This type of feeding by 
chickadees ( Penthestes atricapillus atricapillus Linn.) has also 
been observed by Mr. F. H. Mosher. 
Within the last few years observations have shown another 
type of feeding by birds on the overwintering larvae of this 
insect. This is the shredding of cornstalks illustrated in Figure 
IB, and is the result of feeding by grackles, blackbirds, starlings 
and probably several other species of migrating birds. These 
birds arrive in the latitude of Boston, Mass., from the middle to 
the last of April. Such work was especially noticeable in corn- 
stalks that had been piled in the fall or in stalks that had fallen 
over for one reason ojr another and lay on the .surface of the soil. 
These birds have frequently been observed feeding in flocks in 
the spring, and in a short time they are able to gather the larvae 
Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture in cooperation with the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey 
Institution, Harvard University, Bussey Institution No. 248. 
