6 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



" Last spring at gypsy moth time we went through our bird boxes 

 and found the Packard small paper box for tree swallows a better trap 

 even than the large wooden boxes that were placed higher. We got from 

 only fifteen boxes enough worms to fill a bushel basket. Some of the 

 boxes were jammed full, the tree warden said he never saw such a catch." 



Readers of the Bulletin will do well to remember that bird baths, 

 feeding appliances, in fact all material for the protection of birds, can be 

 seen at the office of the Audubon Society and ordered there at the lowest 

 obtainable prices. 



Keep the Roadsides Beautiful. — The Society for the Protection of 

 Native Plants, which is doing such a good work for the preservation of 

 our rare wild flowers, is issuing a timely Bulletin of suggestions to motor- 

 ists, extracts from which follow. Anyone interested in the distribution of 

 these and other Bulletins along similar lines should write to the Society 

 at 66 Newbury Street, Boston, for a supply. 



'. Our roadsides are in a real danger now from automobilists who love 

 our native plants, but who do not understand their habits and whose 

 reckless gathering of them is wiping them off the face of the earth. We 

 are exterminating our laurel; every year we allow florists to go out and 

 cut truckloads of the leaves for making decorations for ballrooms and 

 churches. Each cutting means that a year's growth and thousands of 

 clusters of the wonderful pink flowers are destroyed. Many of our road- 

 side flowers may be picked without endangering the supply. Daisies, 

 wild roses, aster and goldenrod, meadow-sweet and joe-pye-weed are so 

 plentiful that enough will surely be left to go to seed. Take a book along 

 with you if you do not know these plants, and you will find the making 

 of their acquaintance a delightful pastime. You will learn that you can 

 help to propagate rather than destroy the treasures of our woods and 

 fields. There is our native orchid the pink lady's-slipper. Cut one now 

 and then, leaving the roots intact, but leave the others to grow; they are 

 among our rarest treasures. Gentians, jack-in-the-pulpit, arethusa, bird- 

 foot violet, ferns and many others need protection; even the Mayflower 

 is rapidly being exterminated. 



Our countryside used to be the possession of the few people living in 

 the locality. The automobile has put it in the possession of all of us. 

 Help as you go along the highways to teach people to make them more 

 beautiful. 



Check-lists. — Reports from people who have been listing the birds 

 during the past year continue to come in. Among those received may be 

 noted the following: R. F. Homan, Marblehead, 61 birds checked; Walter 

 Haeuber, 10 years old, Framingham, 63 birds; Ruth M. Haeuber, 11 years 

 old, Framingham, 63 birds. These two are the most successful lists put 

 in for some time by children of that age. Their accuracy and knowledge 

 of birds is vouched for by an older person, and it is very gratifying to 

 know that young children are so observant and so wise in bird-lore. 



ASTONISHING EXPERIENCES WITH A WILD PARTRIDGE 



By Clinton G. Abbott in "The Conservationist," 

 Albany, New York 



There can be no denying that even to human ears the reverberating 

 rumble of the Bates Steel Mule — as Mr. A. H. Armstrong's farm tractor 

 was technically known — suggested in its rolling beats the magnified 

 drumming of a partridge. To Billy's ears, as he stalked through the 



