No. 1.] KEPOUT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 353 



biuatiou is secured by planting with the mulberry trees a 

 fine hard variety of cherries. The birds prefer the fruit of 

 the nuill)orry to the harder clierrics. The experiment might 

 not be so successful if the soft early varieties of cherries were 

 planted, for these are very tempting to the birds. 



According to Dr. Loring Puffer of Brockton, the Charles 

 Downing mulberry possesses properties which may render it 

 even superior to the Russian mulberry for the protection of 

 other fruit. During my visit to Dr. Puffer's place, early in 

 July, 1908, a Downing mulberry some fifteen years old and 

 fully thirty feet high was fruiting heavily, and the birds were 

 flocking to it. Near by was a large cherry tree of the variety 

 called Ohio Beauty ; this also was well laden with fruit. The 

 cherries were large, black, ripe and delicious ; when picked, 

 they would keep for four days in excellent condition. There 

 were no birds on the cherry tree, nor could any injured 

 cherries be seen. The owner said that the native birds never 

 troubled the cherries, but that sometimes the English spar- 

 rows took a few of them. The advantages in raising the 

 Downing mulberry are that it is a quick grower and fruiter 

 and a very early bearer ; and the fruit, unlike that of most 

 varieties of the mulberry, is not insipid, but excellent in 

 quality and will furnish food for both bird and man. 



There seems to be no doubt, in view of the experiments now 

 made, that fruit may be practically protected from all birds 

 in this way. Where there are no mulberry trees, and where 

 robins are the chief culprits, a well-watered lawn and a foun- 

 tain or spring at which the birds can drink may serve as 

 some protection to the fruit. Probably most robins prefer a 

 fat worm or grub to a cherry ; but the cherries ripen usually 

 at a time when the ground is becoming dry, and when the 

 worms have retreated to the subsoil. 



The summer of 1908 was very dry, and yet Eepresentative 

 J. S. Gates of Westborough informed me that the robins were 

 not troubling his fruit as usual. Upon my inquiring whether 

 there were any unusual conditions to account for this, he said 

 there had been no change that he could see, except that he 

 had been watering the laAvn copiously, to keep the grass alive. 

 He had noticed that the robins had been spending most of 



