■}•? 6 Recent Literature. Poet 



Prof. F. E. L. Beal 1 writes of the Meadowlark and Baltimore Oriole, 

 which species are also well figured. About 83 per cent of the Oriole's food 

 consists of insects, of which more than one-third are caterpillars. Despite 

 a slight taste for green peas, and a propensity to puncture grapes, the 

 farmer is counselled " to hold his good opinion of the Oriole, and accord 

 it the protection it so well deserves." The food habits of the Meadowlark 

 are almost above reproach ; " far from being injurious, it is one of the 

 most useful allies to agriculture, standing almost without a peer as a 

 destroyer of noxious insects." 



The 'Report on the Gypsy Moth,' by Mr. Edward II. Forbush and 

 Prof. Charles H. Fernald," 2 recently published under the direction of 

 the State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, contains 40 pages (pp. 

 203-243) on 'The Usefulness of Birds as Insect Destroyers,' prepared by 

 Mr. Forbush as a part of his chapter on the ' Natural Enemies of the 

 Gypsy Moth.' 



After several pages of introductory matter on the general subject of the 

 utility ot birds as insect destroyers, Mr. Forbush gives a list of 38 species 

 of birds seen to feed on the gypsy moth, only about a dozen of which, 

 however, seem to be especially useful as destroyers of this pest. These 

 are mentioned specifically and in detail, there being a short report about 

 each ; then follow remarks about other useful birds, and many pages of 

 field observations, showing how the birds are attracted to the infested 

 localities and their methods of attacking the moth in its various stages of 

 existence. These field notes on the various birds observed give striking 

 evidence of the usefulness of birds as insect destroyers. With such facts 

 before him it is natural that Mr. Forbush should urge better protection 

 for our birds. As Massachusetts is much the same — at least no worse — 

 than other parts of the country, we may well quote the following from 

 Mr. Forbush's appeal for the birds. " While the present laws for the pro- 

 tection of insectivorous birds are wise in the main, no adequate provision 



1 The Meadow Lark and Baltimore Oriole. By F. E. L. Beal, Assistant 

 Ornithologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Yearbook of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture for 1895, PP- 4 I 9 _ 43°' with 2 cuts - 



2 The Gypsy Moth, Porthetria dispar (Linn.). A Report on the Work of 

 destroying the Insect in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, together with an 

 Account of its History and Habits both in Massachusetts and Europe. By 

 Edward H. Forbush, Field Director in Charge of the work of destroying the 

 Gypsy Moth, Ornithologist to the State Board of Agriculture, etc., and 

 Charles H. Fernald, A. M., Ph.D., Professor of Zoology in the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College, Entomologist to the State Board of Agriculture, etc 

 Published under the direction of the State Board of Agriculture by Authority 

 of the Legislature. Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 

 18 Post Office Square. 1896, Svo. pp. xii -f- 495 + c, with 5 maps, 65 plates, 

 and numerous cuts. 



