Title: Birds in their relations to man; a manual of economic ornithology for the United States and Canada
Identifier: cu31924022530301 (find matches)
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Weed, Clarence Moores, 1864-1947; Dearborn, Ned, 1865- joint author
Subjects: Birds; Zoology, Economic
Publisher: Philadelphia, London, J. B. Lippincott Company
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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THE ANIMAL FOOD OF BIRDS. 49 not affect them so seriously as they do the insects of many other groups. The leaf-miners differ from the leaf-rollers in that the larvae live within the tissues of the leaf, as in the case of the apple leaf-miner illustrated on the opposite page. The families of looping or measuring caterpillars—Geome- tridce and its allies—are of special interest from an ornitho- logical point of view because they contain many species which in their larval state so closely resemble small twigs that they easily escape the notice of birds. A few species, like the canker-worm, are of much economic importance on account of their injuries to the foliage of fruit and shade trees. Such species, as a rule, are less perfectly protected in their resem- blance to twigs than others, and when abundant are freely eaten by birds. The moths of these families have slender bodies and comparatively large wings, although sometimes the females are wingless. The great family of night-flying or owlet moths—called by entomologists Noctuidce— includes a large number of the most injurious insects. The boll-worm of cotton, the army-worm, and the various cut-worms, all be- long here. The cut-worms are rather thick, naked worms which hatch from eggs laid by medium-sized moths. Most of them feed upon grass or clover when young, becoming half grown before winter. They hibernate beneath some shelter and in spring come forth in search of food, attacking a variety of young plants by biting off the stems and feeding on the leaves. They become full grown during spring or early summer, pupate beneath the soil surface, and a fortnight or more later emerge as moths. 4
Text Appearing After Image:
THE ARMY-WORM. (Front New York Experiment Station.)

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