170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



been known to check the inroads of the moth in parks and 

 on large estates, merely by eating the eggs in the fall, winter 

 and spring. This is the most vulnerable stage of the moth, as 

 the eggs remain upon the tree for the greater part of the 

 year. The blue jay and a few other species are now believed 

 to be quite destructive to the caterpillars of the brown-tail 

 moth during the winter. In some localities the caterpillars 

 have been removed from nearly all the webs on the trees. It 

 is believed that the blue jay is the most eifective of these 

 winter caterpillar hunters. This subject will be further 

 investigated during the coming year. 



Most of the month of June and much of the remainder of 

 the year were devoted to an investigation of the introduced 

 starling. 



European Methods of attracting Birds. 

 The success of the efforts of Europeans in protecting birds 

 has attracted a great deal of attention in this country. Many 

 articles and essays dealing with the various attempts to pro- 

 mote these methods have been published in Europe. Socie- 

 ties and conmiunities, as well as individuals, have taken the 

 matter up in many parts of Europe. Government authori- 

 ties have taken up the question of bird protection, particu- 

 larly in the European forest work. International conven- 

 tions for the purpose of consulting regarding bird protection 

 ha^e been held. Perhaps the most eminent success in bird 

 protection by one individual has been attained by Baron von 

 Berlepsch at Seebach. Recently a volume by Martin Heise- 

 mann, giving the results of the baron's efforts, entitled " How 

 to attract and protect Wild Birds," has been translated 

 into English, and is now distributed by the National Asso- 

 ciation of Audubon Societies in this country. Baron von 

 Berlepsch has carried out the principles of game protec- 

 tion in the conservation of small birds. He plants trees and 

 shrubbery to attract birds, trims and prunes his trees and 

 shrubbery in such a way as to afford nesting places for the 

 birds, and has invented nesting boxes and feeding appliances 

 that have proved so successful that the 3,000 nesting boxes 



