210 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Mass., in the summer of 1912 and occupied the nest. This 

 is the first instance that has come to my attention of the nest- 

 ing of starlings in eastern Massachusetts, but the occurrence 

 of the bird has been reported from several counties. 



Are Birds killed hy spraying Trees? 



Reports of the finding of dead birds under trees sprayed 

 with insecticides continue to come in, but no great numbers 

 of birds have been found in any case, and two years' work 

 investigating the subject leads to the belief that very few 

 birds are killed by spraying. Nevertheless, spraying un- 

 doubtedly drives out birds. If thoroughly done, it destroys 

 a large part of their insect food, and they must look else- 

 where for it. 



Mr. Charles A. Dean of Wellesley Farms writes that in 

 the spring of 1912 many catbirds, brown thrashers and 

 ground sparrows were nesting on his place. After the trees 

 had been sprayed twice nearly all disappeared. Only two 

 birds were found dead (a bluebird and a sparrow), but he 

 says that he has never seen such an almost entire absence of 

 these birds as during the summer after the spraying was 

 done. He has about 125 acres, and his neighbor, Mr. Hub- 

 bard, about 300, a large part of which has been sprayed. 

 He is satisfied that the birds were destroyed by spraying 

 and he will not spray again. He states that the spraying 

 was done so heavily that some children who picked and ate 

 berries on Mr. Hubbard's land were all poisoned, although 

 the doctors saved their lives. The entire family was taken 

 ill. When trees are sprayed very heavily with a strong mix- 

 ture of arsenate of lead, it is unsafe for cattle to graze under 

 the trees, and such spraying may endanger birds, as they 

 may eat poisoned insects or poisoned vegetation or drink 

 poisoned water. 



The Artificial Rearing of Game Birds. 

 For scA^eral years the State Ornithologist has been inter- 

 ested in an attempt to establish a large reservation for the 

 propagation and protection of game and other birds. In 



