DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 41 



large sections of the Lower Peninsula. Much more complete information 

 is desirable also on the breeding range, migrations, and economic relations 

 of many of our commonest species. Members of the Michigan Ornitho- 

 logical Club and the Michigan Academy of Science were asked to cooperate 

 in collecting these data and much valuable help has been given by mem- 

 bers of both these organizations. It is desirable, however, that consider- 

 able more field work should be done in some parts of the State by thorough 

 ornithologists before the bulletin is completed. The writer spent a few 

 days in Mackinac county last August and a few more in Otsego and Craw- 

 ford counties in June, and both trips added important facts to our 

 knowledge of the summer birds of those regions, but a thorough investiga- 

 tion of the animal life of the northern half of the State undoubtedly 

 would yield most interesting and valuable results. It is to be hoped that 

 the College, by itself or in cooperation with the State Geological Survey, 

 may take up this matter and push it to a speedy completion. Its direct 

 bearing upon agriculture in its broader sense, including forestry, is so 

 obvious as to need no comment. 



NESTING PLACES FOR COMMON BIRDS. 



In the spring of 1899, under the direction of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, I prepared and placed about the College campus about forty 

 nesting boxes for wild birds, hoping in this way — and by the simultaneous 

 warfare on the English Sparrow — to increase the number of valuable 

 native birds about the grounds. Most of the boxes were intended for 

 wrens and bluebirds but two large "martin-houses" were erected in the 

 hope of attracting colonies of the purple martin and white breasted swal- 

 low. Owing to the objections of the superintendent of the grounds these 

 latter bird-houses could not be placed in favorable places and thus far 

 they have remained untenanted except by the ubiquitous sparrow. The 

 number of wrens about the grounds has been very largely increased, how- 

 ever, at least a dozen pairs having established themselves this spring, 

 most of which undoubtedly will rear second broods. Bluebirds have been 

 steadily increasing in the vicinity of the College for the past four years — 

 and probably throughout the whole State — but so far as I can discover not 

 a single pair has actually nested in any one of the boxes which were speci- 

 ally provided. The sole cause of this does not lie with the English Spar- 

 row, although a large part of the responsibility certainly may rest there. 

 Both red squirrels and bluejays are extremely abundant on the campus 

 and both are serious enemies of all our birds. The red squirrel in par- 

 ticular drives out the birds which nest in holes and boxes and not a few 

 of the wooden boxes intended for wrens and bluebirds have been almost 

 destroyed by the squirrels in their efforts to get at young birds or from 

 wanton mischief. The whole subject of the birds of the campus is an inter- 

 esting one and presents several problems which are now under investiga- 

 tion. The entire absence of many species which are common just outside 

 the campus is certainly remarkable and no one of the factors already 

 mentioned will alone account for that absence. A full report on this mat- 

 ter will be made at another time. 



