No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 107 



I went there with one of my sons and we examined the 

 place. There appeared to be a new sort of injury. The trees 

 looked at first sight as if the bark had been pecked off by a 

 bird, and branches had been denuded of their leaves, which 

 had been eaten or carried away. Evidently something had 

 been feeding upon both bark and foliage. Mrs. Rogers be- 

 lieved that crows had caused the injury and that she saw one 

 in the act. I examined the trees with the glass and satisfied 

 myself that neither woodchucks nor crows could have inflicted 

 the injury. The small branches had been bitten by some mam- 

 mal, and the marks of canine teeth showed on both sides of 

 the limbs, where they had bitten into the wood. Small twigs 

 were broken down and in some cases small branches. 



My son was detailed to watch, which he did for a large part 

 of two days. He climbed a tree on the edge of the woods, 

 where he could overlook about 30 acres. He saw a mink come 

 from the woods, go to a tree, climb it and eat off the leaves 

 on one branch, and later it went to another tree and went 

 through the same operation. It was beyond gunshot, and 

 when he began to get down from the tree the creature made 

 for the woods and went into a hole under the wall. 



When questioned, he was sure that the animal was a mink. 

 It was the size and color of a mink, and was not white below 

 like a weazel. It certainly was not a porcupine or a wood- 

 chuck. AVith all of these animals he is familiar. When I first 

 found wolves feeding on berries I was surprised. I am still 

 more surprised at this report. I can find no other evidence 

 that minks eat vegetable matter, but it is probable that no 

 land "mammal is strictly carnivorous. 



Since that time, so Mr. Rogers informs me, the animal has 

 been seen, but no one has yet been able to trap or shoot it. 



To PROTECT Cherries from Birds. 



It is a well-known fact that a few species of birds sometimes 

 do considerable injury to cherries and occasionally to other 

 small fruits. 



The Bryantville (Massachusetts) "News" of August 19, 1915, 

 contains the following: — 



