268 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P.D.No.4. 



This is the plan adopted by the Indians and others in the great 

 Canadian prairies for the " caches," covering the cache for protec- 

 tion from the birds, and the row of fishhooks with the barbs point- 

 ing downward naUed to the isolated tree used for the cache. Of 

 this Ernest Thompson-Seton speaks in his "Arctic Prairies" (I 

 think that is the name), so neither he nor I can claim any invention 

 in this plan. 



The plate which faces Page 266 was reproduced in " Our 

 Dumb Animals." It was taken from a photograph Tdj Mr. 

 Ralph Waldo Trine, made in his garden at Croton-on-Hudson, 

 'New York. He had maintained bird houses for some time 

 and it was a serious problem to keep the cats away from the 

 birds. Mr. Trine therefore resorted to the plan of growing 

 a Dorothy Perkins rose bush about the pole. When the bush 

 was well grown, the thorns kept cats from climbing the post, 

 and added to the attractiveness of the bird house as the rose 

 bush concealed the bare unsightly pole. Bird houses on poles 

 are preferred by many birds to those on trees. 



l^OTEWOETHY FLIGHTS OF BiKDS. 



The greatest flight of egrets on record in Massachusetts 

 occurred in 1911; but the niunber summering here in 1913 

 must have been nearly as large, and they were distributed 

 over a much larger area. Many reports of the presence of 

 white herons, cranes and storks were received from people 

 unacquainted with birds, but authentic records were received 

 from Berkshire, Hampshire, Worcester, Plymouth and Dukes 

 Counties. These birds probably were all egrets, and must 

 have wandered north after the breeding season. 



A flight of Holboell's Grebes came in during the cold 

 weather in February. These birds were picked up on the 

 snow and ice from western Connecticut, through central 

 Massachusetts to Middlesex County. Probably they were 

 driven out by the ice from the lakes of central ^ew York, 

 and failed in their attempt to reach the sea. 



A small flight of evening Grosbeaks was noticed in central 

 Massachusetts in January, and another in eastern Massa- 

 chusetts the latter part of December. 



