Vermont Bird Club 47 



diminished the number of birds in that locality, and so helped to re- 

 move temptation from their would-be slayers. 



Mr. A. E. Tuttle, Bellows P'alls, says: "There is one matter 

 that I have thought about long and seriously, a matter which, it seems 

 to me, state and national organizations ought to bring to the attention 

 of the legislative bodies. I believe it to be a fact that more birds 

 are killed every year by cats than by any other one agency. And, 

 inasmuch as there are devices for combating the mice nuisance more 

 effective than cats, and no agencies have yet been devised that are 

 efficient in combating the pest nuisances, it would seem reasonable to 

 me that cats should either be exterminated, licensed, or muzzled, by 

 legislative enactment. If they could be muzzled during the months 

 of June, July and August, I believe that we should very soon see a 

 marked difference in the number of our song birds, and then we should 

 surely see a marked difference in the insect pests that now so seriously 

 menace all forms of vegetation." 



The Hudsonian chickadee, or to be scientifically correct, the Aca- 

 dian chickadee (Penthestes acadicus) was unusually common in the 

 vicinity of Rutland in the late fall of 1913. George L. Kirk writes 

 that he had previously known this bird only from Vermont mountains 

 at an altitude of over 3,500 feet, close to the Hudsonian zone, but there 

 are several records for lower altitudes the past season. A half dozen 

 of the northern species of titmouse were seen with the common chicka- 

 dees near Rutland at an altitude of 1,000 feet on September 27. In 

 October, Duane E. Kent of Rutland saw the species in East Wallingford 

 near Spectacle Pond. Early in November Mr. Kirk saw them in three 

 places while ascending Mt. Pico, and later in the month he found a 

 dead specimen hanging on a bush in the outskirts of the city of Rut- 

 land, where it had been placed by a shrike. This brings the bird down 

 to 600 feet altitude. 



Mrs. Cora V. Morrill, Bakersfield, reports that a flock of between 

 30 and 40 evening grosbeaks visited Bakersfield last year, coming Feb. 

 18 and remaining until March 9th. "They came to the maple trees on 

 the school lawn every morning, but I never saw them in the village 

 during the afternoon. They were not at all shy and were willing we 

 should admire their beautiful winter dress. So far as we could learn 

 they ate only the maple buds, but the trees apparently were not in- 

 jured by them. On March 8th the weather moderated and the birds 



