48G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



of 1902, which caused the cutting of many acres of wood of 

 all kinds. This, in addition to the regular demand for pine 

 timber, has caused the destruction, says Mr. A. C. Dyke, 

 of many of the favorite nesting trees of the larger ha^vks. 

 Cutting pine timber drives out birds which, like the black- 

 throated green warbler, nest there. Where these pines are 

 succeeded by hard- wood trees, other birds will take the 

 places of those driven out ; * but where, as in the suburbs 

 of cities, these trees are cut and the gi-ound cleared of even 

 shrubbery, the sparroAvs, warblers, towhees and tlirushes 

 are driven out, as well as the wood birds. Lawns, golf 

 links, country club grounds and grassy parks are unsuitable 

 for the birds of the tangle, and they will not live in such 

 places. The work of destroying the gyps}^ moth is now 

 necessitating much tree cutting and cleaning up of shrubbery 

 and tangles. This is bad for the birds, and must result in 

 reducing the numbers of some species in the region infested 

 by the moth. 



Mr. C. J. Maynard, in his recent work, "The warblers 

 of New England,"! speaks particularly of the warblers 

 having been driven from parks, pleasure grounds and the 

 vicinity of cities by the destruction of the shrubbery. 

 While this may not diminish the number of birds in the 

 State, it tends to drive the birds away from many places 

 where they might be retained under a different policy. 



The draining of meadows and marshes drives out the birds 

 that frequent these places. Thousands of acres have been 

 drained and made into cranberry bogs ; many swamps have 

 been flowed for reservoirs ; swamps near cities are drained 

 and jBlled. The extension of cities, the building of summer 

 cottages along the coasts, and the increase of population 

 generally, all tend to drive out the birds from their chosen 

 haunts. The effect of these repellent agencies is to reduce 

 the area of the region furnishing a food supply to the birds, 

 and so, in the end, to decrease in the aggregate the number 

 of birds. 



* Prof. J. W. Votey of Burlington, Vt., believes that 'the growth which fol- 

 lows the cutting off of the spruce fui'iiishes better nesting areas for the birds than 

 those they formerly had. 



t Completed Jan. 1, 1905. 



