2 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL S()( 11.1V 



ON POSSIBLE POISONING OF INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS IN THE 

 WAR AGAINST THE GIPSY MOTH. 



BY L. O. HOWARD. 



The speaker mentioned the fact that the extensive use of 

 arsenate of lead in poisoning woodlands around Boston had 

 given rise to rumors that many insectivorous birds were being 

 killed by the arsenic, either by feeding upon insects that had 

 been killed by the poison or by sucking drops of the spray from 

 the leaves of sprayed trees before the moisture had time to 

 evaporate. He stated that Mr. William Brewster, of Concord, 

 had noticed in the woodlands surrounding his place that several 

 species of birds had disappeared and that he feared it was from 

 this cause. The speaker further stated that he had mentioned 

 this matter on a recent Boston trip to Dr. W. M. Wheeler at the 

 Bussey Institution, and that Dr. Wheeler had stated that in 

 his opinion the insectivorous birds had disappeared for the reason 

 that their insect food had been destroyed and they had simply 

 migrated to regions where their food had not been killed by the 

 poison sprays and was therefore normally abundant. Doctor 

 Wheeler stated that he would send his students after class mate- 

 rial into the regions around the Bussey Institution and that they 

 would return with very few leaf-feeding insects. These had 

 become very scarce since spraying had become so general. The 

 speaker stated that he asked the agents of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology in New England to search for dead birds and to send 

 their stomachs to Washington for chemical analysis whenever 

 they were found. (The author of this note adds, that but one 

 dead bird has been found by the gipsy moth agents up to late 

 September, and that its stomach showed no trace of arsenic.) 



Two HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINTH MEETING, 

 OCTOBER 1, 1914. 



The 279th regular meeting of the Society was entertained by 

 Mr. B. A. Schwarz in the Saengerbund Hall, October 1, 1914. 

 There were present Messrs. Abbott, Baker, Barber, Busck, Bur- 

 gess, Caudell, Crawford, DeGryse, Ely, Gahan, Heinrich, Hunter, 

 Hutchinson, Jones, Knab, Kotinsky, Myers, Menagh, Middle- 

 ton, Poponoe, Pomeroy, Sanford, Sasscer, Schwarz, Shannon, 

 Townsend, Turner, Walton, White, Wood, members, and Messrs. 

 5 t . N. Summers and Edward R. Speyer, visitors. 



