796 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The question of food is one which 

 governs the habits and actions of all 

 birds. As the town has grow^n and its 

 open places have been built upon the 

 birds have been forced to seek new 

 feeding grounds. Of course most birds 

 migrate twice each year but some 

 remain here all winter that in the 

 natural order of things would go 

 south. To keep the birds about during 

 the cold months, 150 feeding stations 

 were selected and after every snow 

 storm or rain storm, when a sudden 

 freeze has covered the trees and ground 

 with ice, grain and suet are placed at 

 these stations. Thus the birds are 

 provided for until a thaw releases their 

 natural food. The man whose duty 

 it is to place the grain and suet states 

 that during the heavy snow the pheas- 

 ants came out of the woods when he 

 called to them and crows actually 

 followed his sleigh from station to 

 station. 



Superintendent Lacy, his men, and 

 members of the Brookline Bird Club 

 all report a noticable increase in bird 

 life throughout the town. More birds 

 have wintered there that generally go 

 south than have for many years. Large 

 flocks of juncos, white-throated and 

 song sparrows have passed the winter 

 in good health, and even hermit 

 thrushes, a brown thrasher and grackle 

 have been seen all during the cold days. 

 Through the efforts of the town's bird 

 warden, Brookline is now a bird sanc- 

 tuary. The holders of large estates, 

 among them those owned by Messrs. 

 Sherman Whipple, Louis and Walter 

 Cabot, Ernest B. Dane, Franklin Hunt- 

 ress and Alfred Douglas have agreed to 

 prohibit all shooting upon their property 

 and have posted notices to that effect. 

 When the hunting season opens the 

 woodlands of the town and the private 



estates will be policed and patrolled by 

 men of the Forestry Department to 

 guard against gunners and all pot 

 hunters as well as fire. 



To stimulate interest throughout the 

 town in this important and necessary 

 work an exhibit of everything connected 

 with the subject of applied ornithology 

 was recently arranged at the Public 

 Library. Stuffed specimens of land 

 and water birds from private and state 

 collections w^ere displayed. Nesting 

 boxes, baths, feeding boxes, nests, eggs, 

 pictures, charts, books and pamphlets 

 of illustrations, cases of injurious in- 

 sects, grain and seeds that the birds 

 feed on, and samples of the bird work 

 done in the elementary schools were 

 arranged. Portions of trees showing 

 nests of the tent caterpillar, gipsy and 

 brown-tail moths, limbs with evidence 

 of the work of the leopard moth and 

 wood lice, and samples of the beneficial 

 work of the woodpeckers and flickers 

 were shown. Portions of fifty varieties 

 of berry-bearing shrubs were placed on 

 the walls against a back ground of 

 green paper and nearby were lists of 

 vines and bushes to plant to attract 

 the birds. This interesting display was 

 viewed by several thousand adults and 

 many children. 



The National Association of Audu- 

 bon Societies has established a Depart- 

 ment of Applied Ornithology under the 

 direction of Mr. Herbert K. Job, former 

 State Ornithologist of Connecticut, be- 

 cause of so many inquiries for informa- 

 tion pertaining to work, such as has 

 been outlined. 



It is to be hoped that other towns 

 wnll soon follow the lead of Brookline in 

 their forestry work and give the birds 

 the protection and care which is their 

 due. 



