50 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Dr. Warren. They are all grain-eating. One of the 

 characteristic features of the sparrow, in fact, the chief 

 characteristic, is his heavy, cone-shaped bill. [The speaker 

 held up several birds for the inspection of the audience.] 

 When you see a bill like that on any bird, it shows that he 

 feeds on a grain or seed diet, because that bill is adapted 

 especially to the breaking up of seeds. Now, take a bird 

 that feeds on insects. Here, for instance, is the whippoor- 

 will. This bird feeds exclusively on insects, such as 

 beetles. It has, as you see, a soft bill, and one which will 

 readily bend. It is, strictly speaking, an insectivorous bird. 

 Here is our common barn-swallow. That bird has a bill 

 adapted to feeding on insects. It has not a bill built for the 

 purpose of crushing, as is the bill of the sparrow. Any bird 

 that has a heavy bill is a grain-eating bird. 



Mr. Lynde. You have spoken of poisoning the sparrow. 

 What poison, and what method of use, would you recommend 

 as the most effective ? 



Dr. Warren. The department of agriculture, where all 

 sorts of experiments have been made to determine the best 

 poisons to be used, recommend especially arsenic and 

 strychnine. I should prefer strychnine ; but Dr. Fisher, of 

 the department of agriculture, says that strychnine is too 

 rapid in its action, and therefore he recommends the use of 

 arsenic. The sparrow is, as perhaps you all know, an 

 exceedingly wary and cautious bird. If you feed them with 

 grain which has been poisoned with strychnine, a few of the 

 birds will eat it, the poison will rapidly take effect ; and that 

 will scare the rest away, and they will not come back. 

 Hence Dr. Fisher recommends the use of arsenic ; although 

 I believe that these birds prefer the bitter taste of strychnine 

 to a sweet taste such as arsenic has. 



Secretary Sessions. Perhaps at this stage of the discus- 

 sion it may be well to read the resolution adopted by the 

 House of Representatives last winter, which was perhaps 

 the cause of our procuring the presence of Dr. Warren 

 here : — 



Resolved, That the Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts be 

 and they are hereby requested to make inquiry and investigation 

 as to the birds that inhabit the State, and report thereon as to their 



