ENTOMOLOGICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1956, 20 August 1891, Page 8

ENTOMOLOGICAL.

WOODPECKERS DESTROYING THE

CODLIN MOTH.

< The last issue of tbe United States Government work, " Insect Life," has an account, by iMrs T. H. Hine, of some very interesting j observations upon the habits of the " downy •woodpecker." Mrs Hine is described as an ' elderly lady, residing at Sedan, Ind., who is i " a most careful observer of birds," and who ihas "presented a very interesting paper on "■ tbe habits of woodpeckers." This lady states ithat ebe has frequently seen woodpeckers feedling upon tbe larva of the codlin moth — " exjtraoting them from tbe apple while the latter lwas hanging to the tree. She has also frequently observed the downy woodpecker busying itself about the young apples, and watched it very carefully "until it worked upon an apple within her reaob, and, keeping her eye upon this identioal apple, she approached the tree and picked it. She found that tbe young larva bad evidently made some progress into the fruit— starting at the calyx,— but that it had as clearly been deftly extracted by the woodpecker, and without any injury to the fruit." /Mrß Hine has also seed these birds diligently searching for larva»and, adult moths all over, the trees and under the leaves.

I Mr F. M. Webster, who writeß the artiole in I" Insect Life," remark 3 that "in a conversation with Judge M'Bride, of Elkhart, Ind., mho is a most careful observer of birds and their ways, he stated that be had also obeervfed downy woodpeoken extracting? 'the -;#6rinß from young apples, and ha had qever observed that in so doing the birds i%any a way injured fhe fruit." He adds :— ■" It seems, then, that the labours of this bird aot not only as a preventive, but also afford aotual and immediate relief to tbe fruit," [There- can be no doubt of the great value to fepple - growers » of euoh action, beoausfi, the bird the oaterpillar "before ith'aß iJaßtrpyei^ itha fruit, and also beoaase it reaches it whifet in a position where it-iB most-difficult to get at by any human, means short of gathering and destroying the infected apples, and •—especially on large trees— this U not easy to say nothing of the lobs of the fruit. | There ib an abundance; otr other evidence of this habit of the woo'dpeokerj and^ristanoeß are not wanting of considerable numbers of codlin moth larvas being found in the stomachs of ' birds of this class, which have been shot for specimens. Dr E, Steriin£, tr m.a letter to PVofeßßor Riley, giveß some interesting details of the work of woodpeckers upon destructive moth larvce, He writes that one of the moßt destructive caterpillars to foliage waa accidentally imported to Cleveland, Ohio (where he resides), and spread so rapidly that, notwithstanding every effort of the inhabitants to clear them' off by destroying as many as they Could find, "when winter set in, tens of thousands Btill remained on the outer branches beyond our reach." A pair of hairy woodpeckers (Pious villosus) made their appearance, and fed daily upon the larvse. In the course of a month these were joined by about a dozen more of the birds. The first appearance of the woodpeokers was in December, and by the following March tbe oaterpillars were all cleared off. Since then not not one has ever beeuseen. Simepeople hava a prejudice against the woodpecker, aud because it is seen pecking at the rotten wood of trees imagine that those rotten places originate from wounds made in the bark by tbe bird. This is a very common idea in England, but a very erroneous one. There is a fungus that grows on the bark of many forest trees, and the mycelium, entering the young wood next the bark, causes it to rot. This rotten wood beoomes the abode of various insects, including the larvse of battles, &0., upon whioh the birds feed, and it is in pursuit of these that they peck into the rotten wood. It would be an immense advantage to the fruitgrowers and agriculturists of New Zealand were some re-

striotiona plaoed upon the actiona of acclimatisation societies and others importing birds, as muph mischief baa already been done by injudicious importations, and a great benefit would follow a little care in introducing such birds as these woodpeckers and a great many other of our useful feathered friends, amongst whioh are the swallows and martens, the jays, oriels, and other inseot-eating birds.