No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 255 



Sixth. — With the family cat thus restrained you can invite birds 

 to nest and live on your premises and about your home by using the 

 methods about which the bird warden will be glad to inform you. 

 He will direct the form and location of bird houses, feeding tables 

 and so on, and will furnish the houses at cost, if any are desired. 



The people of the town of Meriden, N. H., have turned their 

 whole town into a " bird sanctuary," doing voluntarily and success- 

 fully something of what we are going to do here. 



Let us make the movement in Dover an enthusiastic and united 

 one, and furnish for the whole country an example to be followed. 



Too much must not be expected the first or second years, but ex- 

 periments made by Mr. Lord in our own town and by Mr. E. H. 

 Forbush, our State Ornithologist, show that in a short time the 

 number of birds around our homes can be greatly increased, and 

 insect pests as gi-eatly decreased. 



The bird warden is engaged in' making nesting boxes and 

 in trying the most approved methods for protecting and at- 

 tracting birds and giving this information to citizens. He 

 has been appointed a Deputy Fish and Game Commissioner, 

 and so has authority to warn or arrest violators of the law. 

 It is hoped that other towns and other States will profit by 

 this example. 



The Starlixg. 



In the report of the State Ornithologist for 1912 it was 

 predicted that the European starling would be found sparsely 

 distributed over the greater part of the Commonwealth be- 

 fore the end of the year 1913. This prediction has been 

 verified. Mr. Harold W. Copeland records the first starling 

 in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Mass., on Jan. 6, 1913. 

 Later, five more were seen.^ On January 24 Miss Cather- 

 ine E. Buckley of the Burroughs iN'ature Club wrote asking 

 if it was probable that a bird seen by one of the members at 

 Eumford, Me., could have been a starling, as it answered 

 the description of that bird. 



On March 17 Rev. Robert F. Cheney wrote that he had 

 seen at least three starlings in Southborough, Worcester 

 County, Mass. On April 9 Mr. Wm. P. Wharton of Groton, 

 Middlesex County, wrote that a pair of starlings which had 

 established themselves at his home had ousted a pair of blue- 



« See also "Bird Lore," March-April, 1913, p. 114. 



