10 
that the remains of 41 of these insects were found at one 
time in the stomach of one chickadee, and that the digestion 
of the bird is so rapid that its stomach was probably filled 
many times daily, the estimate made by Mr. Bailey seems 
a very conservative one. He now regards the chickadee as 
the best feathered friend of the farmer, for it is with us all 
the year, and there is no bird that can compare with it 
in destroying the female moths and their eggs. It was 
noticed that the birds made no attempt to catch the male 
moths. This, however, cannot be considered as a fault, for 
the birds accomplish far more by destroying the females 
than they would by killing males. 
The following notes from preliminary examinations of the 
contents of the alimentary canals of chickadees made by Mr. 
Kirkland are of interest in this connection: — 
Bird brought in by Mr. Bailey, March 16, 1895. Gullet empty. 
Gizzard contained 270 cankerworm eggs, 46 case-bearers (micro- 
lepidoptera), 6 cocoons of a small tineid (near Aspidisca). These 
three kinds of food in bulk composed 80 per cent of the gizzard 
contents, the remainder being dark material which I was unable to 
determine under a hand lens. I think it very probable that part of 
this was bits of bark or particles of bark dust taken in with the eges 
or cocoons. The intestine contained a large quantity of meat, 75 
per cent; and 103 cankerworm eggs, 10 per cent; the remainder, 15 
per cent, being material which I could not identify, —it was not 
meat. This gives us, as totals, 373 cankerworm eggs and 52 micro- 
lepidoptera. 
Specimen of so-called “scales” on apple twigs brought in by Mr. 
Bailey, March 12, 1895. These are not bark lice, but the cocoons 
of a microlepidopteron, probably a tineid. Length, 42 to % inch; 
width, %2 to “%o inch; elliptical, dark brown or reddish brown. 
They are closely spun, the upper surface apparently being of leaf 
epidermis, while underneath is a small, well-formed cocoon, which 
contains a minute green larva which evidently hibernates as such, 
probably pupating in the spring. The larva undoubtedly feeds on 
the leaves of the apple tree, as these cocoons were taken from the 
small twigs at the extreme end of a large branch. Some of these 
cocoons are empty and have a minute hole at one end, which proba- 
bly served for the egress of some small parasite. These cocoons 
are eaten by the chickadee, and have been found in the gizzards of 
the birds. 
