33 



they distribute and sow the seed which shall provide food for future 

 generations of birds. It is thus, throughout, nature's great plan that 

 one organism depends on others, each upon each throughout their num- 

 berless inter-relations, and he is a wise man who can interfere with 

 nature's plan, and, by introducing new forces, or destroying some of the 

 old, change the scheme without producing disastrous results. Yet we 

 have gone on blindly, destroying our native birds. Gunners shoot them 

 right and left ; feather hunters slaughter them ; boys with air rifles and 

 shotguns decimate them; a million worthless cats are turned loose to 

 prey upon them ; their eggs and young are destroyed at sight by chil- 

 dren, eats and dogs; if in pay for their valuable services they take a 

 little fruit or grain the farmer, who should be their best friend, turns 

 upon them and adds to the slaughter. As a result of all this and more 

 many species of birds are now rare which wei*e formerly abundant. A 

 few are nearly extinct, and some of the larger species have disappeared 

 from the State. Let birds be encouraged and protected from their ene- 

 mies and they will reoccupy their former haunts, and there will then be 

 less necessity for the use of Paris green and other insecticides. 



Native Birds useful in Woods. 



For the information of those interested in the subject lists of birds 

 known to destroy some of the worst enemies of trees are given below. 

 The canker worms are reckoned here as among the forest pests, as they 

 frequently attack elms and other trees in the woods, as well as in fields 

 and along roadsides. The tent caterpillar is also included, as it is in 

 some seasons very plentiful in the woods, where it attacks first the wild 

 cherry and afterward the birch, and occasionally other trees. The gypsy 

 moth is placed first in order, as it is an imported insect and is considered 

 the most injurious of all. As the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

 which has expended more than a million dollars in an attempt to exter- 

 minate this insect, has now given up the task as impracticable, and as it 

 is now probably only a question of time before the insect will spread 

 over the country, all birds which may assist in holding it in check assume 

 the utmost importance. The next insect, the brown-tail moth, another 

 importation from Europe, bids fair also to become here, as in Europe, a 

 pest of the first class. While this insect does not feed on so many trees 

 and other plants as the gypsy moth, it has already proved itself a serious 

 nuisance here, destructive to fruit, shade, orchard and forest trees. The 

 State legislature having neglected to provide for the extinction of this 

 insect when it first appeared, it is rapidly spreading, and is now known 

 to have obtained a foothold in Maine and New Hampshire. Tent cater- 

 pillars, both the canker worms, the tussock moth, and the white grub or 

 May beetle, an- all well known and destructive native pests, while plant 

 lice are probably known among farmers, gardeners and foresters every- 

 where. The methods pursued in gaining the information given in the 

 lists below have been described in the crop report for September, 1899.* 

 This work has been supplemented by stomach examinations. 



Birds feeding on the Gypsy Moth (Porthetria dispar, Linn.). 



The list of birds given in 1896 in the report on the gypsy moth enu- 

 merated only 38 species, while 4ti are included in the list given below. 

 Several of those not included in the earlier list have been found since to 

 be habitual feeders on this insect. Among these are the scarlet tanager 

 and the Nashville anil golden-winged warblers. There is little doubt 

 that this insect as it becomes disseminated will be attacked by other 



* Birds as destroyers of hairy caterpillars, annual report, Massachusetts State 

 Board of Agriculture, 1899, page 316. 



