290 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



party of titmice will be found, and a few woodpeckers, nut- 

 hatches, kinglets and jays remain about the woods all 

 winter. These birds, feeding largely upon the hibernating 

 insects and their eggs, deposited on the bark or in its crev- 

 ices, are enabled during the winter months to destroy far 

 more insects, either dormant or in embryo, than the same 

 number of birds can dispose of in summer. 



When the snow comes, the hares and mice, driven by 

 hunger, gnaw the bark of the young trees. As these animals 

 are very prolific, they would cause great havoc in the woods, 

 especially among the younger trees, were it not for the 

 solemn owl, who sits alone, and from his watch-tower in 

 some old pine looks down more in sorrow than in anger, 

 and gathers them into his larder. It is remarkable how 

 many hares, mice and other small animals a large owl will 

 destroy in winter. The owls are also liberal providers for 

 their young. I once found in the nest of a great horned 

 owl (Bubo Virginianus) two young owls less than three 

 days old, and lying beside them, and partially covering 

 them with the fur, were the hind quarters of a hare. In the 

 nest of a barred owl (Syrnium nebulosum) in Woburn there 

 was found the greater part of a hare and several other small 

 animals, which apparently had been provided as food for 

 two very young owls. Owls as a class are among the most 

 useful birds. They destroy great quantities of insects, 

 as well as numbers of field mice, but comparatively few 

 birds and poultry. The fox is another great destroyer of 

 mice and hares, and is not therefore by any means an 

 unmixed evil. 



Let us go now to the western forests, where man has not 

 yet disturbed nature, and observe the sequence of nature's 

 forestry. In this untrodden wilderness, trees which have 

 outlived their usefulness and have become weakened by old 

 age must come down to make room for those younger and 

 more vigorous. Their forms must then be reduced to dust, 

 to supply the new growth with nourishment. Dust unto 

 dust, — it is the law. In a forest of firs, pines and cedars 

 on the Pacific slope the trees have nearly terminated the 

 allotted period of their existence. Some of them have 

 already fallen, letting in light and air among the young 



