THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



the loss of song-birds must be great. I also noticed Chewinks 

 and Catbirds eating the worms, and I think this fact should be 

 brought to the attention of farmers.' 



"The observations of Edward A. Gill Wylie, a lawyer at 

 No. 149 Broadway, New York, are well worthy of careful reading. 

 He writes : ' The present plague of army-worms, which this sum- 

 mer was so prevalent in New Jersey, New York, and New England 

 states, provides a severe example to us of one of the many rea- 

 sons why the number of insectivorous birds should not only be 

 conserved but materially increased. A horde of these pests sud- 

 denly came to light on a small place about four acres large, within 

 one hundred yards of where I am this summer living, on the 

 Rumson Road, New Jersey. Immediately after the birds of the 

 neighborhood deserted their usual haunts and assembled on these 

 four acres. I personally counted sixty-three Robins, Thrushes, 

 Catbirds, and Meadowlarks at one time on a little square of lawn 

 about 120 by 60 feet, and feel confident that, as this was at high 

 noon, it was not their busy time of day. I was informed by the 

 gardener that they ate so many that often a bird would disgorge 

 and proceed to make a fresh start, and that at least one-half of 

 the worms were consumed by them in the two days which elapsed 

 before the spraying by experts commenced to destroy what was 

 left — and their number was legion. Incidentally, this spraying 

 of four acres costs the owner of the property $60 a day. 



" 'Under the eaves of my porch is a little family of House 

 Wrens, the four younger members of which were hatched about 

 two days before the army-worms appeared. Several times during 

 the course of the plague I counted twelve trips in ten minutes 

 to the nest of the parent-birds, with food, always army-worms. 

 How the young ones could stand the quantity they ate was a 

 marvel. The old ones would fly direct to the source of supply, 

 and would return almost immediately with a whole worm, stop 

 under a near-by hedge, chop off from the whole a suitable morsel 

 of swallowable size for the little ones, fly up to the nest, and then 

 away for a fresh one; never returning to get the remainder of 

 the old worm, but seemingly preferring a fresh one. Their diet 

 consisted, so far as I could ascertain, of the army-worm, until the 



Pag-e twelve 



