THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



final destruction of the army was accomplished by man and his 

 feathered friends. Even moths were ignored, and several fat 

 little spiders built a web within ten inches of the nest and were 

 entirely undisturbed.' " 



Testimony of Mr. Forbush. 



' ' Edward Howe Forbush, the foremost economic ornithologist 

 of New England, reports, under date of August 10, 1914 : 



" 'I have been looking over the destructive work of the army- 

 worm in this state. While the worms have been quite destructive 

 in Wareham, Massachusetts, they have done no harm at all on 

 my farm. In fact, you would never know from the appearance 

 of vegetation that there was a worm on the place. I have taken 

 extra pains this year to attract the birds, and they have eaten 

 a great many of the worms. Thirty or forty rods away from my 

 place the worms are beginning to be destructive, and in other parts 

 of the town they have done a good deal of harm. They have done 

 no appreciable injury on other farms where I have put up nest- 

 ing-boxes in quantities. In Martha's Vineyard, the army-worms 

 have cut corn-crops to the ground. It is rather significant that 

 the worms have done the most harm where poisons have been 

 used to check them. Where no poison has been used, and where 

 the birds have been attracted, the worms (although very numer- 

 ous) have not done very much harm. 



" 'On the state reservation, where the Heath Hen has been 

 protected, and where a great many nesting-boxes were put up this 

 year, birds were very plentiful, as the boxes were nearly all occu- 

 pied, and they were feeding on the army-worm in large numbers. 

 Recently I saw here quite a number of Heath Hens apparently 

 feeding on the army-worm. Where poisoned bran was used in 

 trenches to kill the worms on a large estate formerly owned by 

 Professor Shaler, very few birds were seen, and we had several 

 reports that dead birds had been found along the trenches, but I 

 got there about a week too late and did not see any personally. 

 I hear that a good many Blackbirds and Robins have been pois- 

 oned, and that Quail have disappeared where the poison has been 

 used.' " 



' ' In another letter Mr. Forbush adds : ' I am under the im- 



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