44 
Psyche 
[February 
rather thin and sparingly chitinized, they are ideal food for birds. 
Furthermore, at this time of the year the body of the larva is 
filled with so-called fat body so that the insect becomes food of 
the highest value with only a small portion of waste matter. 
The larvae in standing stalks, during times of heavy infestation, 
provide a plentiful supply of food for birds, such as woodpeckers, 
during the winter, provided the stalks are not completely covered 
with snow, at a time when other food is scarce. They also provide 
a source of food for migrating insectivorous birds in the spring, 
especially those arriving early before other insects become active 
and available in abundance. There is, therefore, every reason 
to hope that birds will take advantage of this food supply to the 
benefit not only of themselves, but also of man. This they may 
readily do, provided that they are able to locate the larvae in 
the stalks, as these experiments seem to indicate they are doing 
more and more, and if they are able to remove the larvae from 
the stalks after finding them, a feat of which not all insectivorous 
birds will be capable. However, there is ample evidence to 
indicate that their industry may help to hold the insect partially 
in check, or even so to reduce its numbers in some localities 
during the winter and spring that damage by the species may 
not be extensive enough to cause heavy loss to crops in such 
localities the following summer. 
Summary. 
Evidence of feeding by birds on larvae of the European corn 
borer has been found each spring for several years in New Eng- 
land. Such work was of two distinct types; the work of wood- 
peckers, particularly the downy woodpecker, which drills holes 
into standing stalks in order to reach the overwintering larvae 
of this insect; and work by grackles, blackbirds, starlings and 
other species which shred stalks that have fallen over and devour 
the hiding larvae. 
For the most part such feeding by birds has been confined 
to localities that have been heavily infested for several years, 
the extent of such feeding having been found to vary greatly, 
but counts have shown that in some fields of sweet corn over 
