. Food habits of the grosbeaks . e United States. Inasmuch as theinsect has no important parasites, its feathered enemies should beall the more appreciated, and it is safe to say that, with the probableexception of woodpeckers, the blackhead is the equal of any of them. 72 FOOD HABITS OF THE GROSBEAKS. The codling moth is accessible to the grosbeak in two stages of itsdevelopmentj namely, when the larvae are seeking a place to hibernateor pupate, as the case may be, and when they are in the chrysalisstage. By no means all of the birds examined had access to thespecies, yet 25 were successful i
. Food habits of the grosbeaks . e United States. Inasmuch as theinsect has no important parasites, its feathered enemies should beall the more appreciated, and it is safe to say that, with the probableexception of woodpeckers, the blackhead is the equal of any of them. 72 FOOD HABITS OF THE GROSBEAKS. The codling moth is accessible to the grosbeak in two stages of itsdevelopmentj namely, when the larvae are seeking a place to hibernateor pupate, as the case may be, and when they are in the chrysalisstage. By no means all of the birds examined had access to thespecies, yet 25 were successful in finding the pupae or larvae, andsecured from 1 to 29 individuals, averaging about 5 each. It ap-pears, therefore, that the grosbeak makes good use of its limited op-portunities, and we agree with Professor Beal ^ that the bird thathelps to destroy this * * * insect, the curse of * * * appleculture, will be hailed as a blessing in spite of any shortcomings itmay have. Second in importance only to the above pest are Fig. 34. Codling moth {Carpocapsa pomonella). (From Simpson, Bureau of Entomology.) The spring cankerworm (Paleacrita vernata, fig. 35), which is re-sponsible for a great deal of damage in apple orchards, constitutes 6percent of the grosbeaks food in May. While this amount is notlarge, it is nevertheless worthy of note, since all of it is consumedwhen the earliest broods are developing. Only one other order, of insects contributes largely to the sub-sistence of the black-headed grosbeak—^the true bugs, Heteroptera-Homoptera. Among minor items of the order the Heteroptera col-lectively form percent of the diet, plant bugs, together withmembers of the squash-bug and stink-bug families and unidentifiedforms, being eaten by 18 birds. A miscellaneous assemblage from Yearbook Dept. Agr., 1904, p. 248. BLACKHEAD VS. SCALE INSECTS. 73
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