190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE [Pub. Doc. 



Recent attempts to provide acceptable domiciles fur the 

 great-crested flycatcher have proved successful. Mv. William 

 Rrewster at Concord fastened in an apple tree a section of a 

 hollow limb prepared especially for the bird, and it was 

 utilized. Mrs. J. W. Elliot slates that at her home at Xeed- 

 ham, Alass., a pair of these flycatchers occupied, in 1900, a 

 bird house on a telejjhone pole; in 1910 a Duryea starch box 

 situated rather high up in an apple tree; and in 1911 a 

 similar starch box on a pole fastened to a rose trellis, and 

 only about 8 feet from the ground. The first and last nesting 

 boxes are shown in the accompanying illustrations, \vhich are 

 taken from ]\Irs. Elliot's photographs. The situation and 

 shape of the nesting box seem to be immaterial to this fly- 

 catcher, but in all cases the entrance was large, — more than 

 2 inches in width. These are the first instances known to me 

 in wdiich this species has occupied nesting boxes in Massa- 

 chusetts. 



BiKDS INTEREST THE PeOPLE. 



The interest that people of all classes evince in bird life is 

 not generally appreciated. In the winter of 1910-11 a 

 barred owl spent several weeks about City Hall Park, Boston. 

 During these weeks the sidewalks and the park were crowded 

 day after day with people watching the bird, although it 

 slept through most of the daylight hours in one of the large 

 trees. In November and December, 1909, flocks of robins 

 appeared in all the New England States. They were noted 

 first in Maine, and were seen soon afterward in southern 

 New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connec- 

 ticut. All through January the robins were present in 

 numbers. The newspapers recorded the flight, and many 

 letters regarding it were received from many parts of eastern 

 Massachusetts, from Worcester to the coast, and from north- 

 ern Essex County to the end of Cape Cod ; large flocks were 

 reported from the island of ^fartha's Vineyard. They pene- 

 trated into the interior beyond Worcester, and everywhere 

 this unusual flight of robins at this season was a topic of 

 conversation among the people. The mild weather of the 

 earlv winter, the lack of snow in some of the northern regions, 



