. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . ong the timbered river bottoms. The set-tlers introduced insect pests on imported trees. The ene-mies of tree insects being absent, because the country wasdestitute of well-grown groves and orchards, the insectsmultiplied and overran the seedling trees ; the larger moths,like cecropia and pohjphemus, were the worst pests of all,increasing rapidly, eating voraciously, and mak
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . ong the timbered river bottoms. The set-tlers introduced insect pests on imported trees. The ene-mies of tree insects being absent, because the country wasdestitute of well-grown groves and orchards, the insectsmultiplied and overran the seedling trees ; the larger moths,like cecropia and pohjphemus, were the worst pests of all,increasing rapidly, eating voraciously, and making it almostimpossible to raise trees. Dr. Lawrence Bruner, in a paperon insects injurious to tree claims, states that the absencealone of so great a factor as tree-loving birds in keepingdown insect pests and ridding the country of them soonbecomes apparent in the great increase and consequent dam-age done by these pests. He asserts, also, that as an enemy 110 USEFUL BIRDS. to tree culture cecropia has no equal in some portions of theprairie country, and that its large caterpillars often defoliateentire groves. Mr. W. C. Colt, who has had experience inraising trees in Dakota, told me that the caterpillars of this. Pig. 37. — The larva of the recropia moth, a destructive leaf eating insect,held in check by birds. and other large species were terribly destructive there. Asgroves and orchards became established, however, and arbo-real birds spread over the country, these caterpillars werereduced to a state of comparati^e harmlessness. There isgood reason, therefore, for the belief that the caterpillars socommonly eaten by practically all arboreal birds would, to-gether with the borers, destroy all the forests were the birdsto be banished from their chosen haunts.^ ^ The latter part of this chapter consists of revised portions of several papersby the aiithor, originally jiublished by the Massachusetts State Board of Agri-culture. BIRDS, CATERPILLARS, AND PLANT LICE. Ill CHAPTER
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1913
