12 THE DISPERSION OF THE GIPSY MOTH. 
In the fall of 1910 a flourishing gipsy-moth colony was found on a 
farm at Charlton, Mass. The worst part of the infestation was in a 
small orchard near the farmhouse and in a row of trees some dis- 
tance away which bordered on cultivated land. Inquiry showed that 
for a number of years it had been the custom for the owners of this 
farm to take children from Boston and vicinity for summer boarders. 
The vacation of each boarder usually lasted about two weeks, so that 
they were continually changing, and there is no doubt that gipsy- 
moth caterpillars or egg masses were brought from the infested 
regions in the baggage of the visitors. 
Many similar cases might be cited, but this will suffice to illustrate 
the ease with which this insect may be carried long distances. 
In December, 1909, a flourishing colony of the gipsy moth was 
found in the residential section of TTallingford, Conn. This is more 
than 100 miles from the nearest badly infested area. Examination 
showed that the worst infested trees were in the business section, and 
many of them were in the rear of a grocery and provision store. 
Supplies of vegetables, such as early lettuce, cucumbers, and toma- 
toes, had been received in season by this store from market gardens 
located near Boston, and there seems to be little doubt that egg 
clusters of the gipsy moth had been transported inadvertently on 
the boxes or in the packing material. 
RELATION OF BIItDS TO THE DISPERSION OF THE GIPSY MOTH. 
During the past few years the scouting operations in Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire have resulted in the discovery of gipsy-moth 
colonies in regions inaccessible to travel, and often in places which 
would seldom, if ever, be frequented by man. This condition of 
affairs has occurred so often, and an explanation for the presence of 
these colonies became so difficult, that it seemed desirable to take 
up the subject in a more thorough-going manner for the purpose of 
determining whether the insect might be distributed by some other 
means. In some of these cases it is possible that the colonies might 
have started from caterpillars that had been dropped by birds, 
but the distances between many of them and known infested regions 
were so great as to render this theory in most cases highly improb- 
able. Furthermore, when caterpillars are picked up by birds they 
are usually injured to a greater or less extent, and the chances of 
their developing so that vigorous colonies would resiilt in a few 
years are very remote. Another factor in relation to the influence 
of birds on the spread of the gipsy moth, and one which has received 
much serious consideration, is the possibility of their feeding upon 
the eggs of the species and distributing them in the excrement. If 
fertile eggs of the gipsy moth should be eaten and pass through the 
alimentary canal of some of our insectivorous birds without sustain- 
