114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



arbor day which is observed more or less, and in some schools 

 the birds and the trees together are the subjects of school 

 exercises. Occasionally some organization gets out an arbor day 

 manual with some reference to birds, but we should have one 

 day devoted to birds, when children can learn about the birds 

 and be taught to feed them, to put up bird houses and to plant 

 shrubs and trees that furnish food for birds. There should be 

 a bird day manual printed annually at public expense, illus- 

 trated by one colored plate at least and giving suggestions for 

 the observance of bird day. This manual should be distributed 

 free of charge to all public school teachers in the State. Most 

 of the States have had already some form of bird day exercises, 

 and Florida, South Dakota, Utah, Kansas, Illinois, Washington, 

 Virginia, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and 

 Alaska officially celebrated a definite bird day this year. Why 

 does Massachusetts lag behind in this movement? 



A Report on the Birds of Massachusetts. 

 In answering questions about birds from people in all parts 

 of the Commonwealth during the past twenty years I have 

 learned something about what the people of Massachusetts 

 desire to know about birds, and it is time to begin to get to- 

 gether a report that will furnish such knowledge. Already two 

 volumes have been published by this Board on the birds of the 

 Commonwealth, but they have included only part of its bird 

 life and have been devoted mainly to recording the destruction 

 of birds by man, their utility and the means for their protection. 

 It is purposed now, if the Legislature will provide the means, to 

 publish a report on all the birds of Massachusetts, dealing with 

 the distribution of each species in our territory, and giving in 

 concise form such information as will be most valuable to in- 

 clude in such a work. Each species should be fully described 

 and figured in colors. Next to the bird itself the colored 

 plate is the most important means of interesting the student 

 and determining the identity of the bird. Both male and fe- 

 male should be figured, and where the seasonal plumages differ 

 greatly other figures would be needed. This would be a work 

 of at least four years, as it would be hardly possible to have the 

 drawings completed in less than three years. 



