No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 393 



Vineyard Haven to which we proceeded from Oak Bluffs. 

 There we obtained a team and drove to Professor Shaler's old 

 farm, Seven Gates, North Tisbury. The army worms which 

 had been very prevalent were not nearly as numerous as they 

 had been, and the season appeared to be about over; but at 

 Seven Gates Farm we had a chance to see how destructive this 

 insect can be. Here fields of corn were eaten to the ground. 

 Trenches had been used to protect the corn fields, and had 

 helped some. Nearly all the turf appeared dead and brown. A 

 great deal of poisoned bran evidently had been used in the 

 trenches, as we saw remains of it and many dead worms. The 

 worms were said to be over a foot deep in some of the ditches, 

 but these had been plowed under and we did not see them. We 

 took photographs of the corn fields. We saw very few birds, 

 the inference being that the admission of the people on the 

 ground was correct, — that the poisoned bran had poisoned the 

 birds or else they had been poisoned by eating the worms. 



It was reported that on one farm turkeys had been poisoned. 

 Some birds had been picked up dead, and a farmer said that 

 there was no doubt that the birds had been poisoned, but that 

 they could not think of birds while trying to save their crops. 



We went to the State game reservation at West Tisbury. At 

 this place the army worms appeared to be nearly as numerous 

 as at the others, but no poison had been used because of the 

 danger of poisoning the heath hens and other birds. Ditching 

 alone had been tried, and the results were much better than at 

 Seven Gates. The corn had been injured very little. The grass 

 had been badly eaten in some of the fields, but apparently no 

 serious harm had been done anywhere. Birds were noticed 

 everywhere. The borders of the fields and bushes were more or 

 less whitened with their excrement, which showed they had 

 been living on insects. Many species apparently were feeding 

 on the army worms. The heath hens were seen in the browned 

 fields apparently picking up the insects, and kingbirds were 

 seen to fly and alight on the grass and fly from one place to 

 another also picking them up. 



Among the birds seen to feed on the army worms here and at 

 other places were : chipping sparrow, English sparrow, field 



