No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xxiii 



the bu^iet^t menibers of our stall That the salary he re- 

 ceives, $500 per aniiiim, is entirely out of proportion to the 

 work he performs, is entirely clear to any one familiar with 

 the facts. I trust that soon the time will come when it will 

 be felt advisable to i)ut this work on a basis which will re- 

 quire all the time of the Ornithologist, with a salary sufficient 

 to justify him in giving it all his time. 



lie has been engaged in collecting an immense amount of 

 information on the game birds of Massachusetts. He will 

 soon be in a position to issne a report on that subject, of the 

 same general nature and scope of his recent report on " I^se- 

 ful Birds and their Protection." I would recommend that 

 the Board instruct its secretary to urge the passage of a 

 resolve by the Legislature providing for the publication of 

 this material in book form. The sale of " Useful Birds and 

 their Protection " continues, and there is no evidence that 

 the demand will fall off in the near future. A considerable 

 number of copies of the third edition remain on hand, so 

 that we can supply demands for some time to come without 

 another rei)rint. 



The State Ornithologist has carried on a careful investi- 

 gation during the past two years of the question whether 

 birds are killed by reason of the heavy spraying with arsen- 

 ical jioisons against the gypsy and brown-tail moths. He has 

 obtained some results which he believes are fairly conclu- 

 sive, and they will appear in his annual report. 



Gypsy and Brown-tail Moths. 

 The work against these pests has been carried on as well 

 as it could be with the faulty system now in vogue. At- 

 tempted suppression means gradual extension. The only 

 practical suppression is by attempted extermination. This 

 our present system docs not allow for, but the force at work 

 has done the best that it could with the means at hand. 

 That the United States government should take charge of 

 this work is evident. With infestation in four States it has 

 become an interstate matter, and with ]\rassachusctts the only 

 State doing anything like effective work the situation is a 



