418 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



REPORT OF THE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



Bv Phof. H. a. Surface, Economic Zoologist, Harrisburg, Pa. 



I beg to submit the report of the Ornithologist under four heads: 

 The increase of interest found during the past year due to the work 

 of the Audubon Society^ due to the papers put out by the State De- 

 partment of Agriculture, due to previous reports that have gone out 

 through this Board, particularly in the last xVnnual Reports. You 

 will find in the Annual Report for 1903 two previous reports of your 

 Ornithologist. Had I the time I could run through the list of birds 

 concerning which I have written during this last year. Each of 

 these birds represents a distinct species discussed in our corres- 

 pondence or direct investigation. It is a difficult thing for a person 

 without proper help, who has a correspondence of three thousand 

 letters a year, to carry on scientific investigations so as to get the 

 result desired. 



I have in this jar (exhibiting jar) the bodies of two specimens of 

 quails with the skins removed. They were sent to me from Luzerne 

 county, received there from Massachusetts, and sent to Massachu- 

 setts, I think, from the South. You will see that they are smaller 

 specimens of quails than any in our State. They were dying by the 

 score, and these were dead birds. The person who sent them to me 

 wanted me to examine them and if possible state the cause of their 

 death and give him a remedy. You will see that they are very much 

 emaciated. I examined them and found them covered by hundreds 

 and hundreds of lice. They were in very bad condition. Their 

 crops I also found to be full, as you see here. I dissected them 

 and found the intestines were crowded by hundreds of Nematodes 

 or pin-worms, such as I discussed in my Monthly Bulletin for De- 

 cember, 1904. 



You will see under the word "Nematelminthes" a discussion of 

 the internal parasites of animals. Any person wanting those bulle- 

 tins may have them. Those Nematelminthes or Nematodes live in- 

 ternally in the birds. Their eggs are voided with the excreta and 

 taken up by other birds and hatched out into internal worms again. 

 That is what has caused the destruction of these particular birds. 

 It is bringing into your region a very serious pest or disease, which 

 also attacks other fowls or birds. It is not for me to give at pre- 

 sent the remedy for this. You will find it in Dr. Pearson's "Diseases 

 of Poultry," issued a few years ago. 



I have here specimens of mice that were taken from the stomach 

 of the Barred Owl which lives on rats and mice, and, therefore, in 

 my opinion, should not be killed. These specimens that I put before 

 you here show my reason why it should be preserved. 



I have the stomach contents of other birds here, particularly the 

 hawks and owls, concerning the economic value of which there is 

 some dispute. Here is a bird found throughout our State (exhibit- 

 ing same). It is the barn owl, also called the monkey-faced owl. It 

 is found as far north as the northern limits of this State, but is more 



