2 T HE? AlU,D°U'B ON #8 UL Ea 
At the time the spraying was started the robins were in every yard, 
and the early morning bird chorus of robins, mourning doves, towhees, 
brown thrashers and flickers delighted our ears with the news that our 
bird friends were back again and spring was really here. Soon this morning 
chorus and evening song were ended almost completely. By the middle of 
May the early morning silence was an astounding fact, with only the 
chirping of some sparrows or the occasional song of an individual catbird, 
cardinal, or the like to tell us that some birds were still alive. 
Every robin was exterminated in the area sprayed. Dead birds were 
found in nearly every yard. One could drive about central Elmhurst all 
day this summer without being able to see a single robin. Great quantities 
of dead earthworms appeared, and it is assumed that these, poisoned by 
the DDT, in turn poisoned the robins. As this is written in mid-July, we 
have seen but one robin (a female) in central Elmhurst. 
The shadblow (amelanchier canadensis) near our house, the fruits of 
which seem always the most preferred of all bird food, being stripped as 
fast as they ripen, has had not a single bird visitor this summer, and the 
black fruits are drying on the branches! The mulberry trees, usually 
filled with birds at this time of the year, are now visited only by squirrels, 
except for an occasional catbird or grackle. 
The dependable daily visitors to the feeding stations of Elmhurst bird 
lovers in the winter and spring are the cardinals, downy (and occasional 
hairy) woodpeckers, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches and 
chickadees, and these were here while the spraying was done. Of the 
cardinals we estimate at least half died. We found one dead male cardinal 
back of our house and several acquaintances reported finding dead cardi- 
nals. There must have been a great many killed, although some survived 
and are seen frequently. 
A downy woodpecker which came daily to our backyard suet was found 
dead. A neighbor reported finding a dead redheaded woodpecker. Usually 
we have these visitors at least occasionally during the summer, but not 
one has been seen here recently. 
The first casualties noticed when the spraying program was started 
were the ruby-crowned kinglets, which were then present in especially 
great numbers on spring migration. It was a pitiful sight to see these 
lovely little birds vibrating their wings in the way we quickly learned to 
associate with inevitable approaching death from DDT. The birds lose 
the ability to fly, and more or less the ability to hop or walk, and can be 
taken easily by hand. We know of no case where a bird reached this stage 
of the vibrating wings and partial paralysis of the nervous system and 
later recovered. . 
Many English sparrows and starlings were killed. We are unable to 
estimate the proportion, but would guess that half of the large population 
in the city died. Some blue jays died, also Baltimore orioles. Dead grackles 
were found, although oddly, it seemed that for a time this spring there 
were perhaps more grackles than usual in town; yet although normally 
