Report of Dr. Merriam. 



'■2>7 



he kept on eating as long as he could, and 

 he really thought he would have a very 

 good time, when all at once he heard 

 something that made him drop his knife 

 and fork and feel very queer. A party of 

 children were whispering together in a 

 corner, and to his horror he heard one of 

 the little girls say as plain as possible, 

 " We shall have roast missionary for Christ- 

 mas." 



Charley stole a rapid glance in the direc- 

 tion of the group of children, and they 

 were all patting their stomachs, and evi- 

 dently enjoying something in anticipation, 

 but when they saw Charley looking at them, 

 they pretended they were not thinking 

 about anything. 



You can imagine his sensations. When 

 he went to his room he thought of nothing 

 but how to get away, and he determined to 



get up and make a run for it as soon as 

 they should all be asleep, but they sat 

 round the fire talking and laughing until 

 far into the night, until Charley could keep 

 his eyes open no longer, but overcome by 

 exhaustion and a big supper he fell fast 

 asleep. How long he had been asleep he 

 didn't know, when all at once he heard 

 footsteps coming toward his room. At 

 first he dared not open his eyes, but as he 

 heard the handle of the door quietly turn- 

 ing, he sprang up in bed determined to 

 sell his life dearly, and then imagine his 

 delight when he found himself at home, 

 and his mother standing in the doorway of 

 his room. 



She laughed when he told her that the 

 savages wanted to make missionary pie of 

 him, but Charley looked very grave about 

 it, for he felt it was no laughing matter. 



C. F. Amery. 



REPORT OF DR. MERRIAM. 



WE are indebted to the courtesy of 

 Dr. C. Hart Merriam, chief of the 

 Department of Economic Ornithology at 

 Washington, for his report for the year 

 1887. The report consists of two parts (i) 

 a statement of work done during the year; 

 and (2) special reports embodying results 

 of investigation. 



The work of the Division as usual con- 

 sisted chiefly in the collection of facts 

 showing the relation of certain birds and 

 mammals to agriculture, horticulture and 

 forestry, and in the preparation of two im- 

 portant bulletins (i) on the English spar- 

 row, against which the department has 

 entered on a contest designed to be a war 

 of extermination, and (2) on bird migra- 

 tion in the Mississippi Valley. 



Dr Warren's valuable report on the 

 stomach contents of hawks and owls, of 

 which a synopsis was given in the Audu- 

 bon Magazine, has been embodied by Dr. 



A. K. Fisher, Assistant Ornithologist, in a 

 report of the contents of 1072 stomachs, 

 all carefully tabulated and serving to bear 

 out the conclusions suggested by Dr. War- 

 ren's investigations, only 57 of the 1072 

 stomachs affording remains of poultry in 

 their food, while 528 contained mice, and 

 241 insects. 



Dr. Fisher contributes further some 

 notes on the depredations of gophers and 

 blackbirds in northern Iowa and southern 

 Mi:nnesota, in which occurs the very per- 

 tinent remark "that the chief reason why 

 blackbirds are so troublesome in this local- 

 ity is that so small a proportion of land is 

 planted to corn compared with the vast 

 area of the surrounding prairie," and he 

 adds that the same state of affairs existed 

 at Storm Lake, Iowa, some years ago, be- 

 fore corn was so extensively raised as at 

 present. This is the key to the whole 

 problem; birds which prey upon the farm- 



