96 American Horticultural Society. 



Iii.story a man could not luivc cluldreii enouj^li to frighten tlic lin- 

 nets away; but of late years \vc liavc planted so many clieiry trees 

 and have such large crops that we and the linnets have now an 

 honest living between tis. To comiiass this end re^niircd as much 

 patience as the man had who undertook to make niini^tcrs out of 

 fifteen bad boys. 



[NoTK.— In view of the confusion existing aiiionjj horticnltiirists in regard to 

 the identity and habits of this bird, so frequently confounded with an innocent 

 member of the woodpecker family, the Secretary quotes from the transactions of 

 the Indiana Horticultural Society for 1879, page 134, a general dfscription of the 

 family, as given i)y Alenibert W. I5rayton, B. S . M. I)., in " A Catalogue of the 

 Birds of Indiana, with keys and descriptions of the groups of greatest interest to 

 the horticulturist :" 



" The Woodpeckers. — Bill stout, usually straight, with the tip truncate or acute 

 fitted for hammering or boring in wood ; tongue long, flattish, i)arbed, cajiable of 

 great protrusion, adaptt-d to securing insects (except in <S/(/i///(//)iVhs) ; hyoid appa- 

 ratus peculiar, its bones generally quite long, curving around the skull behind; 

 feet zygodoctyle; outer toe permanently reversed, hind toe present (except in Pi- 

 coides) ; claws compressed, sharp and stVong. Tail feathers 12, rigid and acumi- 

 nate; outer pair short, concealed ; tail never forked ; nasal tufts usually present. 

 Chiefly arboreal. All (except itphyrapiciis, wliich is truly a sap sucker) are pre- 

 eminently insectivorous, and hence they are of the greatest service to the farmer. 

 Voice loud, and often harsh. Colors generally bright, the male having almost 

 alwa^vs red on the head; sexes usually slightly diflerent. Species 250; abundant 

 almost everywhere." 



Of Splnjrapicuti vurim (yellow bellied woodpecker), the mischievous member, 

 excepted above from those having tiexible, barbed tongues, Dr. Bray ton further 

 says: "Tongue not extensible, the tip brushy; hyoid bones short; black and 

 white above, black on breast, chieily yellowish below ; white wing patch ; crown 

 red in adult, scarlet in female; 8, inches long. This bird is an exception to the 

 rule that the woodpeckers work in the interest of the fruit-grower. He is a true 

 sap-sucker; the hairy and downy woodpeckers do not deserve the name. The 

 yellow-bellied sap-suckers eat fruits and insects. They injure fruit trees by strip- 

 ping ofl'the outer bark and eating the soft inner bark (Cambium lai/er)." 



— Secketauy.] 



Prof. Kinney, of California, chairman of the Committeo on For- 

 estry, submitted the following preamble and resolutions: 



KEPORT OF THE CO.MMITTEE ON FORE-^TRV. 



WnERK.x.s, It is now known that a due proportion of forest, vitryingfrom one- 

 fifth to one-fourth of the area of a given locality, is estimated to secure the largest 

 agricultural returns and the maintenance of the largest popul .tion in the whole 

 district, and that deforestation exceeding this proportion diminishes the total out- 



