220 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A Row OF Poplars Whose Branches Are Cut Back to the Trunks Every Five or Six Years to Form 



Nesting Sites. 



one or two newts of the year were to be found in practically every tree, estate of baron von 



berlepsch. 



forded them in other ways, there is good 

 reason to hope that ultimately they can 

 be colonized in much larger numbers 

 than are now present under natural 

 conditions — in numbers large enough to 

 control, as they do in Germany, many 

 of the injurious forest insects. For birds 

 nesting in the branches of trees and 

 shrubs, the pruning of certain of these 

 after the German plan, and the planting 

 of hedges and undergrowth in certain 

 places, will, if German results are any 

 criterion, eventually produce a large in- 

 crease in nesting birds. 



The effectiveness of the pruning of 

 underplanted shrubbery on the estate 

 of Baron Von Berlepsch is little short of 

 marvelous. In a double row hedge of 

 thorn (Crataegus oxycantha) on the 

 edge of a wood, the writer counted 

 thirty-one nests of the year in a distance 

 probably not much exceeding 300 feet, 

 and would probably have found a pro- 

 portionate number in the larger part 

 still remaining, had the lateness of the 

 hour not prevented. While awaiting 

 the results of his pruning. Baron Von 

 Berlepsch has found that the tying to- 

 gether of the branches of bushes is 

 effective as a temporary expedient. 

 These methods, so far as known to the 



writer, have not as yet been given a 

 trial in this country. 



One phase of this problem has thus 

 far been unmentioned, that relating to 

 the conservation of game birds in State 

 forests. A detailed discussion of this 



,*.-H*' 



!*-■ '-^^ 



A Family of Young Bluebirds on Top of the 



Nest Box in Which They were Hatched 



Near Meriden, N. H. 



Photo by Ernest Harold Baynes. 



