Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1921-03-10

lest foe OF the trees in spring ans
early summef. The moth progen
however, is but one Of the food ele-
ments that the chickadee is after. /
will pry out bark and scale insects.
grubs and borers and tree lice in great
quantities. The kinglet is perhaps
one OF the most thorough insect killers
that we have among the winter birds
n that it diligently works over every
inch of a limb and leaves 20 recess
or crevice uninvestgatcd. Neverthe-
less, the chicadee is a close second; a
competitor that is nec!: TO neck with
hat thumb-lcng, go.ae1 CAPRI 7ro-
tector of the pines.
The hairy woodpeckcr IA familiar
winter bird) is always busy minis
tering to the welfare of man. AS a
clan they have little 20 say, bur in a
material way they give a good account
OF themselves. am of the belief that
the brown creeper, the hairy wood
pecker and the downy woOipecker are
VIZ u w HiOhSNlOlS vi lllN opplG
orchards, with, of course, the chica-
dees working in collaboration: while
the chicadees are set to work IN the
limbs the other three feathcred in
vestigators are busy on the trunks
Just so is apportioned the tasks in
nature; as though each were given a
duty to fulfill, which is done with
exactness and unfailing faith. Millions
of dollars are spent annually in pre-
parations with which the fruit trees
are sprayed, but were these birds en-
couraged to come to the orchards BY
the putting up of seed boxes and half
pound pieces of suet arranged here and
there at convenient places the amound
OF good coming as a result could hardly
be estimated. Apple trees in the win.
ter contain the millions of eggs of in
sects that will rise like scourge in
the early summer when the leaves
come forth. The time to destroy then
is in the winter when they can b
"nlpped in the bud" at their very in
cepton. To make an orchard a point
Of attraction by the setting up of fec
boxes AMI tying suet to the limbs is
to draw numbers of birds 10 that To-
cation. Fear not; they will not be de.
pendent upon the seeds for their live
lihood. They will feed little on them
and then instead of flying away will
start in to investigate into the inner
mysteries of the bark cells of the near
by trees where the tenacious insect
life holds out.
The hairy woodpecker has whitish
underparts with darkish upperparts.
The wings are barred with white, and
there is white stripe above the ewes.
LIKEWISE white stripe under the eyes.
There is whitish stripe upon the
back that Identifies him.
Dryobates villosus (Which is his
Latin name) has a little mate, devoid
of many of the markings that he DOS
SeSses; for she is clothed in a de-
mure brown celebration. This mate is
received with the utmost care and at
tention in the summer, during the
mating season, but Just how scanda-
ously he treats the mate in the winter
IS understood from the fact that he
VIII make himself a den-hole with the
utmost care in soma convenient tree
even to lining it with choice wood
land fabrics" and will there take ur
winter quarters. But the mate mus,
care for herself; probably rocstinp in
the doorway should she be afraid pf
the dark. However, there is reason to
oeiieve that she, too, makes herself
winter nest. 1t has often been a mst-
Ter OF concern with me as lay in bed
at night land especially on very cold
and snappy niehts) how the birds arc
farlng. Returning home one evening
n the gray, chilly dusk in late Novem-
Der it was my luck to notice n hairy
woodpecker enter a knot-hole in the
side OF tree. and since he did not
come out again while waited il was
my opinion that he had "gone to roost "
Inc next day scaled the tree with
much labor and peered in and nv
suspicious were proved to be borne out
TOT there was nest within warm
enough to BATTLE the most harrassine
gale.-Robert Page Lincoln in Dear
born Independent.