MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 413^ 



logical societies of France and Switzerland have written here that 

 unless birds be protected in Italy they mnst perish all over Europe, 

 since so ^reat a variety of races wing their way to the south in winter, 

 and are ruthlessly murdered. 



The craze for devouring birds of all kinds is a species of fury 

 from the Alps to ^tna. They crunch the delicate bodies between 

 their jaws with disgusting relish, and a lark represents to them a suc- 

 culent morsel for the spit or pastry. The trade in larks all over the 

 world is enormous, and it should at once be made penal by heavy fines 

 on the trappers, the venders and the eaters, or ere long no more will 

 the lark be heard in the land. 



This has been a hard year for the birds, the cold waves in the South 

 destroying great numbers of them. When that February cold wave 

 went south and sent the thermometer in Grcorgia to ten degrees below 

 freezing — the lowest record for cold that state has any record of — the 

 birds, southern and northern, were found dead in door-yards and fields 

 in countless numbers, among them many mockingbirds and orioles. 

 The loss of the Florida orange orchards, with the oranges ready for 

 market, though it amounts to many millions of dollars, can sometimes 

 be repaired ; but the loss of the birds will be felt throughout the 

 northern country, and is one which it will take many years, perhaps, to 

 make good. 



A paper was recently read before the Biological Society of Wash- 

 ington, subject of which was the food of birds. So much has been 

 said about birds being destructive to fruit and vegetation that an in- 

 vestigation of this kind is of the utmost importance. In the stomachs 

 of some of the birds there were thousands of ants. Over six hundred 

 stomachs were examined, and in almost all of them insects formed the 

 greater part of the contents. Ants especially seem to be popular, and 

 in almost every instance the other insects were of harmful sorts. In 

 one of the reports of the agricultural department it is said that each 

 bird has its favorite foods, but when these fail it casts about to find 

 something that can be substituted. A number of scientists suggest 

 that the woodpecker should be encouraged and protected in every 

 possible way, as many circumstances seem to indicate that he would 

 be the very best assistant in getting rid of the grubs that are destroy- 

 ing our elm trees all over the country. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, chief of 

 the division of ornithology of the agricultural department, is authority 

 for the following : 



"For several years I have been engaged in examining and analyz- 

 ing the contents of stomachs of hawks, owls, crows, blackbirds, meadow 

 larks and other birds of North America, which are supposed to be 



