Vol.1932III AUSTIN,Cobb Island DUTCI-IER• •VILLIA:I 1901--"Results of Special Protection to Gulls and Terns Obtained through the Thayer Fund." Auk, Vol. 18, pp. 76-104. 1902--"Results of Special Protection to Gulls and Terns Obtained through the Thayer Fund." .4vk, Vol. 19, pp. 34-64. 1903--"Report of the A.O.U. Committee on the Protection oi Xorth American Birds." •uk, Vol. 20, pp. 101-159. Fis•, W•L•t H. 1897•"Cobb's Island, Virginia." Osprey, Vol. 1, pp. 107-109. HADLEY,A. H. 193•"A V•s•t to Cobb'sIsland." Bird-Lore, Vol. 32, pp. 318-320. H•xsa•w, H. W. 1879•"Occurrence of the Caspian Tern upon the Coast of Virginia." B•dl. •Vutt. Orn. Club, Vol. 4, pp. 243-244. HOWELL,A. B. 1911•"A ComparativeStudy at Cobb'sIsland. Va." •ttk, ¾O1.28, pp. •9-453. Jo•, H. K. 1905•"I. gild [ghtgs." Pzx•sox, T. G. 1892•"Collectlngon Cobb'sIsland, Va." Oolog[st,Vol. 9, pp. 191-193. RI•wxy, R. 188•"Description of the Eggs of the CaspianTern." Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. 5, pp. 221-223. Rives, W. C. 18•"A Catalogueof the Birds of the V•rg[nias."Proc..Vowport Nat. Hist. Soc., D•. 7, pp. 1•. ]o•xsox, Notes on Protovalliphora Bird-Bandln• Jaauar¾ NOTESON PROTOCALLIPHORADURING THE SUMMER OF 1931 By Cmx/tLEsW. Jo•xsox BostoJ[Society 6f A'aturalHistory T•E work of Mr. \Villiam P. \Vharton of Groton, Massachu- setts,on the methodof combatingthe injury done to nestling birdsby theblood-sucking maggots of Protocalliphoraby remov- ing the original.nestafter the birds are severaldays okt and substitutinga hand-madeone provesmost interesting..The fol- lcxvingis a list of the nestsMr. Wharton sent to me, with his notes,to which I have addedwhat the nestsactually contained. Jtme 12. Bluebird. "The original nest was removed after the youugwere four daysold." The very youngmaggots failed to pnpate. June20. Tree Swallow. "Nest removedin a similarman- ner to that of the Bluebird." This nest when examined contained 37 pupariafrom which37 fliesof Protocatl•phorasialia emerged. lune 25. Bluebird. "Original nest removed."Only one sn;allpuparium and fly of P. sialia. June 25. Barn Swallow. "Nest removedafter the young had fallen from it and died." The dead birds were sent with the nest. After removing the birds all that I obtained from the nest was a number of the two scavengerflies, popularly known as "bluebottles." Cal[iphora z'iride•cen• and Lucilia se•'icata. June26. Robin. "Inside portionof the nest removedxvhen maggotswere noticed iu it, after the youngbirds had left." From sevenpuparia emerged seven P. siaIia. ß June .9. Bluebird. Nest substitutedby me for that re- movedon June 12th. The youngleft apparentlym goodcon- dition."In thenest were 34 puparia,18 of whichwere parasitised by the little chalcidMormonleila vitripennis, Walk. (brevicornis Ashre.) June29. SongSparrow. "The nestwas collected after the youngbirds had apparentlyleft prematurely,one having been founddead beneath the nest."From the pupariaemerged 4 males and one female,referable to-ProtocalIiphora splendida Macq. The malesmore closely resemble those of P. sialiathan any I haveseeu, but theterminal s%mnent of theabdomen is a bright green, not blue. July'1. Tree Swallow."The young 'birds were in good co'dillonwhen ßremoved from the nest." The nest was placed in va.1932III Jo•z.x'so•,NotesonProtocallOhor a [.97 ag/ass jar,and the puparia werenoticed alittle later tobe heavilyparasitized. Anexamination ofthe nest September 1lth showedthatonly 3flies hademerged; 46of the puparia hadthe lilleexit holes ofthe chalcid Mormom¾Ila vitripennis,and three brokenwereapparentlyopen, and dead.•[ was Onesurprised of the latterto find pupariain it the was,larv•however, of a pearedparasitebetweenmuch largerthe 15th than andthose 20th ofofthe July. chalcid, Evidently whichwehad haveap- anotherparasite ofProtocalliphora thatpossibly •)asses the butwinterdoubt intheif I puparium can raise ofthemthe nowfly. Ithat am guardingthe puparium themiscarefullybroken. Irestfits. amnow saving allsupposed deadpuparia, hopingfor some July10. Tree Swallow. "Thereplaced nestofthe above brood,theyoung apparently allhaving flownbnt one, which wasdead." Thenest contained 34maggots, 9 larva. and 3 puparia,which were preserved inalcohol. Fromthe other werepuparia dead.emerged 14flies ofwhich -? were parasitized and4 July2. TreeSwallow. "Thisis also areplaced nest.Two ofthe young birds died, three having probably flown."The nestcontained 38puparia, 34of which were parasitized bythe littlechalcid Mormoniella. Thisisanother remarkaNy h•gl(per- 91centageper cent,of parasitism.while inthis Inonethe itnestis over of96.July per /stcent.there was over July16. Honse Wren. "The young birdshad probably /eft17flies the emergednest ingoodand 5condition.'• were dead. The nest contained --99 puparia- , .July 16. Starling. Thelarge nest was alive with mites whenreceived. Thenest was examined September 11thand contained69pupafla. Fiftyflies had emerged; 8were dead and 11had been destroyed bysome predaceous insect,alarge irregu- Housefly"larwereholealso havingpresent(Iv,to.,;,, beennumerousmade . onß •.nuthe paria side . and ofthe fl•es puparium.,Thereof the 'Little ß -, - ...... -.,• camcutarls} "Meal ....... ,, - • . ooscurus} the C'".ad•11• /.• ./, -. ,• wurlTl {.lC'11COI'lO ........ r t•eneoro•aesmauritanicus), a little filthymoth,nest. Monopis irrorella, etc.,all acting asscavengers inthe theJulynest 28.onto Barn the floor Swallow. and were "The saved."young Thehadnestjumped contained out42of puparia;26flies emerged; 16were parasitized and6were dead. Protocalliphora.August1. House Wren. The nest contained nopuparia of Mr.A. W. Higgins ofRock, Massachusetts, sentaBluebird's nestandunder date.of July 8th says: "The nest belongs tothe '•8] Jonxsox,Notes on Protocalliphora JanuaryBird-Bandin• secondclutch of e(,•,s'the first nestwas destroyedbv a male House Sparrow.The nestwas takenJuly 2d, and the four young birdswere alive. I counted119 maggots and pupaein the nests." The nest was put in a jar when received,but evidentlya few of the maggotsescaped in transit, for 1 find only 109 puparia. from which emerged51 flies; 13 were parasitizedand 45 were dead. Mr. Higgi•s also sent a Tree Swallow'snest, which he said had contained one dead bird and one alive, which left nest June 29th. The nest contained21 puparia and 21 flies emerged. On Max, 16th Mr. Paul A. Stewart of Leetonia, Ohio. sent me the nest of a Starling. from which 92 Protocalliphorasialia emerged early in June. Mr. Stewart writes: "The young birds in the nest were not dead but apparentlyhealthy. Probablythe infestat/on was not sufficientlyheavy to destroy the six young thenest contained." If 92 large bloo[l-sucking maggots failed to have anv effect on the young Starlings, I think that it throws s•m]e1ig'•t on the situation in NewEngland where the Starlings havebeen so preYalent for severalyears. I hare suggestedbefore that the Starlingsprobably have somethingto do with the ap- pai'ent increaseof Protocalliphorain this section.and as I continne this work I feel more convinced that this is the case. Our native birds cannot competewith. this more vigorousin- truder. On August 1st Mr. Stewartsent the nestof a Bluebirdwith the followingnote: "The •onng Bluebirdsin the nest were.in an entirely healthycondition. Ten maggotshave been removed from the nest and preserved.I would appreciatevery much if you will sendme the numberof adult flies producedby the maggots."There were 64 puparia,from whichemerged 51 flies; therewere also13 smallundeveloped larvze. None of the puparia were parasitized.quite unusualfor this time of the year. Mr. Wendell P. Smith of Wells River, Vermont, in sending a Bluebird's nest taken May 27th says: "Four young birds died in the nest during the 25th and 26th. I noticed larvae,about one eighth of an inch in length, of a drab color." A few of the larvm pupated,but most of them were too young to transform. On July 2d Mr. O. L. Austin, Austin OrnithologicalResearch Station, South Wellfleet, Massachusetts, sent ten nests of the Tree Swallow.It wassomething of a surprisewhen an examina- tion failed to showa singleProtocalliphora. Fleas and mites were abundantin someof the nests.Is Protocalliphoraabsent on Cape Cod ? The contentsfrom a Downy Broodpeckersnest from Holder- heSS,New Hampshire,were receivedfrom Mrs. R. B. Harding. .