No. I. I 



KKl'OKT OF SECRETARY. 



XV 



the many other birds working for his benefit from early 

 morn to dewy eve, singing and carolling joyously all the 

 day long for his delight? The barn swallow is not neat, he 

 is not welcome in any of our barns, and yet perhaps he is 

 of more importance to the farmer than his best cow, and 

 brings him a better net return at the end of the season. 

 The increased attention now being directed to the value of 

 these birds is most encouraging, and I do not hesitate to 

 again call attention to their importance, and to suggest their 

 money value as an incentive to the practical farmer to en- 

 courage them and attract them around his home. Besides, 

 how much joy and delight they give to country life. They 

 arc the life of the landscape, the joy of the summer ; we 

 look forward to the advent of each species, and as we 

 look on the plumage or catch the note of the harbinger of 

 its kind, it uplifts the heart and increases the joy of the day 

 to us. The birds are our natural allies in the destruction 

 of insects ; to encourge them is the truest economy : and 

 this Board is only abreast of the time in calling attention to 

 the importance, yes, the necessity, of more strongly attract- 

 ing and more carefully protecting our insectivorous birds. 



Publications. 



The following publications were issued by this office in 

 1901, and may be obtained on application : — 



* Including thirteenth annual report of the Hatch Experiment Station of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, 132 pages. 



