The Regulative Action of Birds Upon Insect Oscillations

Abstract

Reports on gut contents of birds taken from an apple orchard severely infested with cankerworm in Tazewell County, Illinois in two sampling periods (May 1881 and May 1882). In 1881, fifty-four birds  representing twenty-four species were taken, with seven other species noted present.  In 1882, ninety-two birds representing thirty-one species were taken, with four other species noted present. Insect development was more advanced at the time of the 1881 sample than the 1882 sample. For common species in the sample, the author compares findings from the orchard to samples of the same species of birds taken from other “ordinary” locations.