Sept. 21,1914 
Birds and Chestnut Blight 
421 
(13) Furthermore, many birds which climb or creep over the bark of 
chestnut trees are important agents in carrying viable pycnospores of 
the chestnut-blight fungus, especially after a period of considerable rain¬ 
fall. 
(14) Birds are probably not very important agents in spreading the 
chestnut blight locally, on account of the predominance of other and 
more important factors of dissemination, as, for example, the wind. 
(15) The writers believe, however, that many of the so-called “spot 
infections” (local centers of infection isolated from the area of general 
infection) have had their origin from pycnospores carried by migratory 
birds. Some of the birds tested were not permanent residents of eastern 
Pennsylvania, but were shot during their migration northward. These, 
no doubt, carry spores great distances. Each time the bird climbs or 
creeps over the trunk or limbs of a tree some of the spores may be 
brushed off and may lodge in crevices or on the rough bark. From this 
position they may be washed down into wounds by the rain and may 
thus cause infections. 
LITERATURE CITED 
1. Fisher, A. K. 
1912. [Discussion on birds and the chestnut blight.] Penn. Chestnut Blight 
Conf., Rpt. of Proc., p. 103-105. (Discussed also by F. C. Stewart and 
S. B. Detwiler.) 
2. Fulton, H. R. 
1912. Recent notes on the chestnut bark disease. Penn. Chestnut Blight Conf., 
Rpt. of Proc., p. 48-56. 
3. Heald, F. D. 
1913. A method of determining in analytic work whether colonies of the chest¬ 
nut blight fungus originate from pycnospores or ascospores. In Mycologia, 
v. 5, no. 5,. p. 274-277, pi. 98-101. 
4. -and Gardner, M. W. 
1913. The relative prevalence of pycnospores and ascospores of the chestnut- 
blight fungus during the winter. In Phytopathology, v. 3, no. 6, p. 296- 
305, pi. 26-28. (Preliminary note in Science, n. s., v. 37, p. 916-917. 1913.) 
5 -- 
1914. Longevity of pycnospores of the chestnut-blight fungus in soil. In Jour. 
Agr. Research, v. 2, no. 1, p. 67-75. 
6. -and Studhalter, R. A. 
1913. Preliminary note on birds as carriers of the chestnut blight fungus. 
In Science, n. s., v. 38, no. 973, p. 278-280. 
7. Horne, W. T., Parker, W. B., and Daines, L. L. 
1912. The method of spreading of the olive knot disease. Abstract. In 
Phytopathology, v. 2, no. 2, p. 96. 
8. Johnston, J. R. 
1912. The history and cause of the coconut bud-rot. U. S. Dept, of Agr., 
Bur. PI. Ind., Bui. 22, 175 p., 15 pi. 
9. KittredgE, J. 
1913. Notes on the chestnut bark disease (Diaporthe parasitica', Murrill) in 
Petersham, Mass. In Bui. Harvard Forestry Club, v. 2, p. 13-22. 
10. Massee, G. E. 
1910. Diseases of cultivated plants and trees. 602 p., illus. New York. 
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