202 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



This has been our banner year, we having had more birds nesting 

 about our farm than ever before, with the exception of robins. I 

 have never known them to be so scarce, and this fall in pastures 

 where red berries abound there are no robins; usually we have 

 from 10 to 15 nests, but this year there were only 4. Our colony 

 of eave or cliff swallows increased to 32 nests this past season;, 

 then we had 43 bird houses taken by white-breasted swallows, 18 

 nests of barn swallows, 3 nests of chimney swallows, 4 nests of 

 robins, 5 chippies, 8 song sjDarrows, 2 kingbirds, 1 waxwing, 2 

 orchard orioles, 2 pairs of bluebirds, rearing 2 litters apiece, and last 

 but not least 2 nests of wrens, making for the season with old birds 

 added something like 725 birds, reared within 500 feet of our house, 

 and all this with the simple protection from English sparrows. 



Every building on Mr. Hoxsie's place has some sort of a 

 bird residence on its roof, under its caves or wherever it 

 affords a proper shelter. Mr. Iloxsie is a believer in the 

 principle that birds not only add to a farm's attractiveness, 

 but pay for their keep by destroying the insects which injure 

 trees and crops. Also he finds that his large colony of tree 

 swallows is a protection against hav/ks. Whenever the hawks 

 come near, the male birds in the colony all start in pursuit, 

 and no chickens have ever been killed by hawks since this 

 colony has taken possession of his bird houses. Mr. Hoxsie 

 is a bitter enemy of the English sparrow, for he has found 

 by experience that sparrows drive out swallows and other 

 birds and that one of the best methods in protecting native 

 birds is to destroy the sparrow. He does not allows an Eng- 

 lish sparrow to remain on the place. 



In June of the present year, I received a communication 

 from Mrs. J. W. Elliott of jSTeedham in which she stated 

 that crested flycatchers have nested again at her home in the 

 bird house used by them in 1909 and illustrated in my last 

 annual report. At her invitation I had the pleasure of visit- 

 ing the place and verifying her statements. 



Miss Frances Vibert writes from South Windsor, Conn., 

 that the birds feed at a table at the upstairs window in pref- 

 erence to one lower, perhaps because the higher window is 

 more out of the reach of cats. Here blue jays, several chick- 

 adees that came at call, nuthatches and tree sparrows all 



