No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 475 



KEPOET OF THE OKNITHOLOGIST 



By PROF. H. A. SURFACE, Harrisiurg, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Board: It is my pleasure and 

 duty to submit the following as report of your Ornithologist for the 

 year 1910. With but one exception, the year has not been character- 

 ized by any remarkable feature of Ornithology in Pennsylvania, be- 

 sides the growth of that steady, strong and healthy sentiment for bird 

 protection, for both practical and ethical reasons, which has been so 

 valuable in giving Pennsylvania its deserved reputation for results 

 in this cause. Only yesterday one of America's great agricultural 

 speakers and writers, Mr. George T. Powell, in charge of the Ex- 

 tension of Agricultural Experimental Work, with office in New York 

 City, remarked in this building that "it is recognized that Pennsyl- 

 vania leads the Union in its strong sentiment and good results for 

 bird protection." We must acknowledge that it is our opinion that 

 this is due to the combination of three essential factors: First, 

 public sentiment; second, judicious legislation; and third, the co- 

 operation of all officials as well as private citizens for the proper en- 

 forcement of our laws. 



The public sentiment has come, in great part, from the work of 

 this Board, by providing that annually this subject shall be brought 

 to the attention of our citizens through the Eeport of a Specialist in 

 Ornitholo'gy, which is published and freely distributed, and the 

 growth of this sentiment is further augmented by the Bulletins on 

 bird preservation by the Bureau of Zoology, of the State Department 

 of Agriculture, by the work of our Pennsylvania State Branch of 

 the National Audubon Society, and by the work of Dr. William 

 Dutcher, of New York City, and other officers of the National Audu- 

 bon Society, produced by the use of Leaflet Literature, which has 

 greatly aided in maintaining the interest and widely disseminating 

 information concerning birds and other untamed creatures. 



We should make special mention of the excellent work of our 

 State Game Commission, with Dr. Joseph Kalbfus as Secretary, in 

 creating sentiment, and especially enforcing legislation for birds and 

 game protection. That law which made it illegal for an unnaturalized 

 foreigner to carry a gun in the State of Pennsylvania has proven of 

 vast benefit to our agricultural resources in protecting our song birds 

 and insectivorous birds, and has likewise greatly aided our State 

 forestry interests, as these birds are even more essential for the de- 

 struction of woodland pests than for the destruction of those of the 

 field or orchard, because with our modern methods of pest suppression, 

 we are able to control most of our injurious insects of the orchards by 

 the spray pump when occasion arises, but this is practically impos 

 sible in the woods. 



ARE BIRDS KILLED BY SPRAYING? 



At this point we should offer an answer to the above question which 

 is now so frequently asked. It is sufficient for us to say that we have 



