STATE FORESTS AS BIRD SANCTUARIES 



219 



A General View of one of the "Shelterwood" Bird Nesting Plantations of Shrubbery on the Border 



OF A Wood, Estate of Baron Von Berlepsch. 



— which latter are similar to our chick- 

 adee — soon occupied approximately 90 

 per cent of these bcxes. In 1905 oc- 

 curred a great outbreak of the destruc- 

 tive moth called Tortrix Viridana. The 

 woods surrounding those of Baron Von 

 Berlepsch were stripped virtually clean, 

 but the Baron's trees, protected by the 

 birds, and by no other known agency, 

 retained their foliage, and stood out 

 amid the surrounding desolation like a 

 green oasis in a desert. 



The application of German methods 

 to Massachusetts conditions will not, of 

 course, be all plain sailing, but it may 

 be reasonably assured that the general 

 principles are as applicable here as 

 there, and that the difficulties will come 

 in adapting the German practices to 

 American environment . Probably 

 everyone will agree that the useful non- 

 game birds should receive in our State 

 forests the same complete protection 

 from molestation by man which they 

 now enjoy under the law throughout 

 Massachusetts. The next step, then, 

 should be to protect them so far as 

 practicable from their other enemies, 

 and this object could be accomplished 

 to a large degree by requiring wardens or 

 rangers to kill off certain predatory 



creatures. Feeding stations and bird 

 baths, established at favorable points 

 in the forest, would undoubtedly attract 

 and hold many birds which might other- 

 wise pass on. The problem of nesting 

 sites is more difficult. Owing in part 

 to the comparative novelty of the arti- 

 ficial nesting box, and in part to the 

 presence of a good many natural nesting 

 cavities in our forests, birds thus far 

 have not taken readily to the former 

 where they have been placed in the 

 woods. Boxes so situated are usually 

 occupied by squirrel or mice, or remain 

 empty, though I am told that flickers 

 and screech owls have been known to 

 nest in them. On the edges of clearings 

 and in old orchards and fields these 

 boxes are now used to a considerable 

 extent, and this is a hopeful sign of 

 what may be expected later in the for- 

 ests. For as the improvement of the 

 forest proceeds, and dead and decayed 

 trees are eliminated — thus- approximat- 

 ing German conditions — the birds will 

 in all probability take more and more 

 to the boxes, and a decrease in their 

 nimibers will thus be prevented. Then, 

 becoming habituated to these artificial 

 conditions, and increasing as a result of 

 the protection and encouragement af- 



