L. B. Fletcher Cites Birds As Preservers of Civilization

In an illustrated lecture last night before 25 members of the Harvard Ornithological Club, meeting in Adams House. Lawrence B. Fletcher, Secretary of the Northeastern Bird Banking Association, discussed the economic value of birds, the desirability of bird banding, and the lives of the humming bird and the tern.

"If it were not for the birds," said Fletcher, "we would have no flora and consequently no animal food. For on a typical apple tree the female gypsy moth lays 500 eggs. Each of the moths from these eggs lay 500 more eggs, and in a few years there are literally millions of caterpillars, even allowing for a fifty per cent mortality.

"Birds are the only restraining force on these harmful pests, for noxious insects form their main diet. Ninety-eight per cent of the wren's meals are these dangerous caterpillars, and thus they are reduced to a harmless minimum.