. 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. Birds; Birds. SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 251 Dr. Rufus H. Petit, entomologist of the Michigan Experi- ment Station, says that in almost every case where cocoons of this insect were concealed under flakes of bark the birds had found them. " Such pierced cocoons," he says, "are the common thing in our orchards, especially where they have been above t
. 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. Birds; Birds. SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 251 Dr. Rufus H. Petit, entomologist of the Michigan Experi- ment Station, says that in almost every case where cocoons of this insect were concealed under flakes of bark the birds had found them. " Such pierced cocoons," he says, "are the common thing in our orchards, especially where they have been above the snow ; Fig. 107, which is drawn from a reproduction of his photograph, shows the inner surface of a flake of bark, the remains of a cocoon attached, and the hole made by the bill of the bird. A large part of the food of this Wood- pecker, while in the orchard, consists of ATOod-boring beetles, their larvae, and various bark beetles and weevils. Hardly another bird, excepting the suc- ceeding species, can compete with this in destroying borers, such as the round-headed apple borer, that infest fruit trees. In securing these insects it never does the trees any percep- tible harm. In many cases it perforates the bark of apple trees with small, roundish holes, less than an inch apart, disposed in parallel horizontal rings. Nuttall says that these holes are made for the purpose of drink- ing sap from the trees. But this work is not done for the sake of the sap, if, as Wilson says, it is always performed in. Fig. 107. — Cocoon of cod- ling moth, pierced by Woodpecker. Fig. 108. —Apple tree the fall, at a time Avhen the sap is not flow- ing ; possibly the bird takes out bits of the cambium layer; Wilson believed it was delving for insects ; but whatever the reason, the trees so perforated seem to be invigorated rather than injured by the process, which is not the case with trees similarly attacked by the true Sapsucker. The Holes made by the Sapsucker are different in
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