1914-15] REPORT OF WINTER MEETINGS 33 



He then illustrated the song of the oriole. ''This bird," 

 said Mr. Mathews, "is one of the few birds I have found 

 it impossible to get a response from, as it is too busy at all 

 times cutting in among the trees." 



Many kinds of sparrow^s were then illustrated and charts 

 showed the various kinds, and the song illustrated which is 

 the only way of telling these birds. 



The vesper sparrow, he explained, w^ould gather weed 

 seeds, and recently in Ohio, weed seeds that would have 

 amounted to twenty tons were destroyed by them. 



"The state hands out thousands of dollars to destroy the 

 insects which destroy trees and shrubbery, but the birds 

 do a great amount of good," he says. 



"The hermit thrush is one of the greatest singers in the 

 world and is heard in the mountainous district as far south 

 as New York. 



"The swainson thrush is more of a hermit than the hermit 

 thrush, as it is seldom seen. The whippoorwill will get 

 insects, flying through, the air with its mouth wide open and 

 whiskers flying to catch all fl^^ing bugs. 



"Without the birds we would have to pass our lives on 

 Mars or Venus, as everything we eat and have is aided 

 by the birds of nature." 



On Alpine Flo\vers 



Burton Holmes, the noted lecturer, attended the second 

 of the series of lectures given by the Worcester Horticul- 

 tural Society in Horticultural Hall, Thursday afternoon, 

 January 8. The speaker w^as Herbert W. Gleason, Boston, 

 whose subject was ''Alpine flowers." Stereopticon slides 

 from photographs taken by Mr. Gleason, during his tours 

 of Alpine regions, were shown and the hues of these flow^ers 

 which grow in mountainous districts wxre a treat to lovers 

 of nature. The hall was taxed to its capacity and at the 

 close of Mr. Gleason's talk he was congratulated by Mr. 

 Holmes. 



