BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



Another member of the R.S.P.B. recently visited 

 Chicago, when all the town was being attracted to 

 one of the biggest stores in that amazing city by 

 the exhibition of a " thousand-dollar hat." This 

 triumph of costliness, displayed in a glass case, was 

 of ordinary fur, ornamented with a single plume of 



one of the rarest and most nearly annihilated 

 Birds of Paradise. Its value lay in the fact that 

 its race had been practically extirpated to fill the 

 plume-hunter's bag. There seems to be a fine rivalry 

 between Paris and Chicago as to whether francs or 

 dollars can plumb the deepest depths of vulgarity. 



usr ucr Economic Ornithology, usr usr 



The Larch Sawfly pest has recently appeared 

 and done serious damage in the larch plan- 

 tations of the Thirlmere district, whence 

 Manchester obtains its water supply. An 

 investigation of the area was consequently 

 undertaken last year by Mr. C. Gordon 

 Hewitt, B.Sc, Lecturer in Economic Zoology, 

 University of Manchester, and he has pre- 

 sented two extremely interesting reports 

 to the Waterworks Committee of the 

 Manchester Corporation. After referring to 

 the value of the afforestation — not merely 

 in beautifying the district but in increasing, 

 by condensation, the amount of water 

 produced and purifying it by filtration — 

 Professor Hewitt details the life history of 

 the insect. He then deals with the remedial 

 measures of hand-picking, burning, and 

 spraying ; and with the natural enemies 

 of the fly, alluding in particular to the great 

 assistance given by Rooks, Starlings, and 

 Chaffinches. In his second report, November, 

 1907, Professor Hewitt reviews the steps 

 taken and the expense and difficulty attend- 

 ing some of the remedies ; and he dweUs 

 strongly on the importance of encouraging 

 birds which feed on the Sawfly grub and other 

 injurious insects, not only on account of the 

 present attack, but generally in keeping 

 down such enemies of forest trees. In a 

 region like Thirlmere, where stone walls 

 take the place of hedges, and small birds are 

 not abundant, mere protection is not enough. 

 This encouragement he advises should be 

 given by (1) feeding during the winter time 

 when the natural food cannot be obtained ; 

 (2) protection by strictly prohibiting bird- 

 nesting, and the shooting of small birds ; 



(3) provision of suitable cover and nesting 

 places, natural and artificial. 



Of all the birds the Tits are, in Professor 

 Hewitt's opinion, the most valuable from the 

 forester's point of view ; and he therefore 

 recommends the provision of winter food 

 suitable for these and for other useful 

 birds, such as Chaffinches, Hedge-Sparrows, 

 Starlings, Blackbirds, and Thrushes. Where 

 possible hawthorn and wild fruit-trees 

 might be planted. " Other birds which 

 should be protected in the interests of the 

 plantations are the Cuckoo, Flycatcher, 

 Wagtails, Wren, and Jackdaw ; also Wood- 

 peckers, which, although they do a certain 

 amount of damage to trees, are extremely 

 useful in destroying the larvae of beetles hving 

 in the bark and timber, and also other insects." 



Temporary nesting places might, he 

 suggests, be provided by making heaps of 

 cut branches, such as are stacked for Pheasant 

 cover ; and for the Tits especially, nest- 

 boxes should be hung in suitable places — 

 a plan successfully followed in continental 

 forests where birds are scarce. [In accord- 

 ance with this advice, experimental nesting- 

 boxes have been supplied by the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds, and it 

 is hoped that they will help to correct 

 Thirlmere's deficiency of bird-life.] 



" It needs no pointing out to the practical 

 person," Mr. Gordon Hewitt sums up, " that 

 if any considerable areas are to be affores- 

 ted successfully, it is of the greatest 

 importance to keep as large a stock as 

 possible of the natural enemies of those 

 insects injurious to woodland trees, in order 

 to minimise as far as possible the risk of 

 future outbreaks of these pests, which are 

 not only external but internal also." 



