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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #62696 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62696)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 630 (1915
-edition), by F. E. Beal
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 630 (1915 edition)
-       Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer
-
-Author: F. E. Beal
-
-Release Date: July 19, 2020 [EBook #62696]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USDA FARMERS' BULLETIN NO. 630 (1915) ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Tom Cosmas
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber Note
-
-Text emphasis is denoted as _Italics_.
-
-
-
-
-                     U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
-
-                          Farmers’ Bulleting
-
-                                  630
-
-
-                    Contribution from the Bureau of
-              Biological Survey, Henry W. Henshaw, Chief.
-
-                          February 13, 1915.
-
-
-
-                SOME COMMON BIRDS USEFUL TO THE FARMER.
-
-               By F. E. L. Beal, _Assistant Biologist_.
-
-
-Note.—The habitat, food habits, and economic relation to agriculture
-of more than 50 birds common to farming sections are discussed in this
-bulletin. It supersedes Farmers’ Bulletin 54.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-                                              Page.
-
-  The bluebirds                                  2
-
-  The robins                                     3
-
-  The titmice                                    4
-
-  The wrens                                      6
-
-  Brown thrasher                                 7
-
-  Catbird                                        7
-
-  The swallows                                   8
-
-  Towhee                                         9
-
-  The sparrows                                   9
-
-  House finch                                   11
-
-  The grackles                                  12
-
-  Brewer blackbird                              12
-
-  Baltimore oriole                              13
-
-  Bullock oriole                                14
-
-  The meadowlarks                               14
-
-  The red-winged blackbirds                     15
-
-  Bobolink                                      17
-
-  Crow                                          17
-
-  Blue jay                                      19
-
-  Pacific coast jays                            20
-
-  The phœbes                                    21
-
-  The kingbirds                                 23
-
-  Nighthawk                                     24
-
-  The woodpeckers                               25
-
-  The cuckoos                                   27
-
-
-
-
-INTRODUCTION.
-
-
-Whether a bird is beneficial or injurious depends almost entirely
-upon what it eats. In the case of species which are very abundant, or
-which feed to some extent on the crops of the farmer, the question
-of their average diet becomes one of supreme importance, and only by
-stomach examination can it be satisfactorily solved. Field observations
-are at best but fragmentary and inconclusive and lead to no final
-results. Birds are often accused of eating this or that product of
-cultivation, when an examination of the stomachs shows the accusation
-to be unfounded. Accordingly, the Biological Survey has conducted for
-some years past a systematic investigation of the food of those species
-which are most common about the farm and garden.
-
-Within certain limits birds eat the kind of food that is most
-accessible, especially when their natural food is scarce or
-wanting. Thus they sometimes injure the crops of the farmer who has
-unintentionally destroyed their natural food in his improvement of
-swamp or pasture. Most of the damage done by birds and complained
-of by farmers and fruit growers arises from this very cause. The
-berry-bearing shrubs and seed-bearing weeds have been cleared away,
-and the birds have no recourse but to attack the cultivated grain or
-fruit which have replaced their natural food supply. The great majority
-of land birds subsist upon insects during the period of nesting and
-moulting, and also feed their young upon them during the first few
-weeks. Many species live almost entirely upon insects, taking vegetable
-food only when other subsistence fails. It is thus evident that in
-the course of a year birds destroy an incalculable number of insects,
-and it is difficult to overestimate the value of their services in
-restraining the great tide of insect life.
-
-In winter, in the northern part of the country, insects become scarce
-or entirely disappear. Many species of birds, however, remain during
-the cold season and are able to maintain bike by eating vegetable
-food, as the seeds of weeds. Here again is another useful function of
-birds in destroying these weed seeds and thereby lessening the growth
-of the next year.
-
-In the following pages are discussed the food habits of more than
-50 birds belonging to 12 families. Many are eastern forms which are
-represented in the West by slightly different species or subspecies,
-but unless the food habits differ they are not separately described.
-In some cases specific percentages of food are given, but for the most
-part the statements are made without direct reference to the data on
-which they are based.[1]
-
-[1] Farmers’ Bulletins describing the food habits of wild birds and
-groups of birds, or presenting methods of attracting them about our
-homes have been issued as follows:
-
-    54. Some Common Birds in their Relation to Agriculture, by F. E. L.
-       Beal, 1897. The present bulletin is largely a revision of this
-       bulletin and supersedes it.
-
-    383. How to Destroy English Sparrows, by Ned Dearborn, 1910. This
-       bulletin has been superseded by Farmers’ Bulletin 493.
-
-    450. Our Grosbeaks and Their Relation to Agriculture, by W. L.
-       McAtee, 1911.
-
-    493. The English Sparrow as a Pest, by Ned Dearborn, 1912.
-
-    497. Some Common Game, Aquatic, and Rapacious Birds in Relation to
-       Man, by W. L. McAtee and F. E. L. Beal, 1912.
-
-    506. Food of Some Well-known Birds of Forest, Farm, and Garden, by
-       F. E. L. Beal and W. L. McAtee, 1912.
-
-    513. Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard, prepared under the
-       direction of Henry W. Henshaw, 1913. This bulletin was issued
-       with illustrations in color, and the demand for it was so
-       enormous that it is no longer available for free distribution.
-       Copies may be had for 15 cents (postage stamps not accepted) of
-       the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office.
-
-    609. Bird Houses and How to Build Them, by Ned Dearborn, 1914.
-
-    621. How to Attract Birds in Northeastern United States, by W. L.
-       McAtee, 1914.
-
-The parts of this bulletin relating to the crow and blue jay were
-contributed by E. R. Kalmbach, and the discussion of the nighthawk is
-by W. L. McAtee, both of the Bureau of Biological Survey.
-
-
-
-
-THE BLUEBIRDS.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 1.—Bluebird. Length, about 6½ inches.]
-
-The eastern bluebird[2] (fig. 1), one of the most familiar and welcome
-of our feathered visitors, is a common inhabitant of all the States
-east of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Canada.
-In the Mississippi Valley it winters as far north as southern Illinois,
-and in the East as far as Pennsylvania. It is one of the earliest
-northern migrants, and everywhere is hailed as a harbinger of spring.
-Very domestic in habits, it frequents orchards and gardens, and builds
-its nests in cavities of trees, crannies in farm buildings, or boxes
-provided for its use.
-
-[2] _Sialia sialis._
-
-The bluebird has not been accused, so far as known, of stealing fruit
-or of preying upon crops. An examination of 855 stomachs showed that 68
-per cent of the food consists of insects and their allies, while the
-other 32 per cent is made up of various vegetable substances, found
-mostly in stomachs taken in winter. Beetles constitute 21 per cent of
-the whole food, grasshoppers 22, caterpillars 10, and various other
-insects 9, while a number of spiders and myriapods, about 6 per cent,
-comprise the remainder of the animal diet. All these are more or less
-harmful, except a few predacious beetles, which amount to 9 per cent.
-In view of the large consumption of grasshoppers and caterpillars
-we may at least condone this offense, if such it may be called. The
-destruction of grasshoppers is very noticeable in August and September,
-when these insects make up about 53 per cent of the diet.
-
-It is evident that in the selection of its food the bluebird is
-governed more by abundance than by choice. Predacious beetles are eaten
-in spring, as they are among the first insects to appear; but in early
-summer caterpillars form an important part of the diet, and these are
-later replaced by grasshoppers. Beetles are eaten at all times, except
-when grasshoppers are more easily obtained.
-
-So far as its vegetable food is concerned the bluebird is positively
-harmless. The only trace of any useful product in the stomachs
-consisted of a few blackberry seeds, and even these probably belonged
-to wild rather than cultivated varieties. Following is a list of the
-various seeds which were found: Blackberry, chokeberry, juniperberry,
-pokeberry, partridgeberry, greenbrier, Virginia creeper, bittersweet,
-holly, strawberry bush, false spikenard, wild sarsaparilla, sumac
-(several species), rose haws, sorrel, ragweed, grass, and asparagus.
-This list shows how little the bluebird depends upon the farm or garden
-to supply its needs and how easily, by encouraging the growth of some
-of these plants, many of which are highly ornamental, the bird may be
-induced to make its home on the premises.
-
-Two species of bluebirds inhabit the Western States—the mountain
-bluebird[3] and the western bluebird.[4] In their food habits they are
-even more to be commended than their eastern relative. Their insect
-food is obtainable at all times of the year, and the general diet
-varies only in the fall, when some fruit, principally elderberries,
-is eaten, though an occasional blackberry or grape is also relished.
-In an examination of 217 stomachs of the western bluebird, animal
-matter (insects and spiders) was found to the extent of 82 per cent
-and vegetable matter to the extent of 18 per cent. The bulk of the
-former consists of bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. Grasshoppers,
-when they can be obtained, are eaten freely during the whole season.
-Caterpillars also are a favorite food and are eaten during every month
-of the year; March is the month of greatest consumption, with 50 per
-cent, and the average for the year is 20 per cent. Two stomachs taken
-in January contained 64 and 50 per cent, respectively, of caterpillars.
-Beetles also are eaten and comprise mostly harmful species.
-
-[3] _Sialia currucoides._
-
-[4] _Sialia mexicana subspecies._
-
-The vegetable matter consists of weed seeds and small fruits. In
-December a few grapes are eaten, but elderberries are the favorites
-whenever they can be found. It is only when these are in their greatest
-abundance that vegetable exceeds animal food.
-
-
-
-
-THE ROBINS.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 2.—Robin. Length, about 10 inches.]
-
-The robin[5] (fig. 2), in many parts of the country one of the most
-cherished of our birds, is found throughout the States east of the
-Great Plains, and is represented farther west and south by slightly
-different subspecies.[6],[7] It breeds far north through Canada,
-and is found even in Alaska. Although the great bulk of the species
-leaves the Northern States in winter, a few individuals remain in
-sheltered swamps, where wild berries furnish abundant food. The robin
-is an omnivorous feeder and its food habits have sometimes caused
-apprehension to the fruit grower, for it is fond of cherries and other
-small fruits, particularly the earlier varieties. For this reason many
-complaints have been lodged against the bird, and some persons have
-even gone so far as to condemn it. It is, however, far too valuable to
-be exterminated, and choice fruit can be readily protected from its
-depredations.
-
-[5] _Planesticus migratorius._
-
-[6] _Planesticus migratorius propinquus._
-
-[7] _Planesticus migratorius achrusterus._
-
-Examinations of 1,236 stomachs show that 42 per cent of its food is
-animal matter, principally insects, while the remainder is made up
-largely of small fruits or berries. Over 16 per cent consists of
-beetles, about one-third of which are useful ground beetles, taken
-mostly in spring and fall when other insects are scarce. Grasshoppers
-make up about 5 per cent of the whole food, but in August they comprise
-17 per cent. Caterpillars form about 9 per cent, while the rest of
-the animal food, about 11 per cent, is made up of various insects,
-with a few spiders, snails, and angleworms. All the grasshoppers,
-caterpillars, and bugs, with a large portion of the beetles, are
-injurious, and it is safe to say that noxious insects comprise more
-than one-third of the robin’s food.
-
-Vegetable food forms 58 per cent of the stomach contents, over 42 per
-cent being wild fruits and only a little more than 8 per cent being
-possibly cultivated varieties. Cultivated fruit amounting to about
-25 per cent was found in the stomachs in June and July, but only a
-trifle in August. Wild fruit, on the contrary, is eaten every month and
-constitutes a staple food during half the year. No less than 65 species
-of fruit were identified in the stomachs; of these, the most important
-were 4 species of dogwood, 3 of wild cherries, 3 of wild grapes, 4 of
-greenbrier, 2 of holly, 2 of elder; and cranberries, huckleberries,
-blueberries, barberries, service berries, hackberries, and persimmons;
-together with 4 species of sumac and various other seeds not strictly
-fruit.
-
-The depredations of the robin seem to be confined to the smaller and
-earlier fruits, few, if any, complaints being made that it eats apples,
-peaches, pears, grapes, or even late cherries. By the time these are
-ripe the forests and hedges are teeming with wild fruits which the bird
-evidently finds more to its taste. The cherry, unfortunately for man,
-ripens so early that it is almost the only fruit accessible at a time
-when the bird’s appetite has been sharpened by a long-continued diet
-of insects, earthworms, and dried berries, and it is no wonder that at
-first the rich juicy morsels are greedily eaten.
-
-While the robin takes some cultivated fruits, it must be remembered
-that, being a natural enemy of the insect world, it has been working
-during the whole season to make that crop a possibility, and when the
-fruit ripens the robin already has a standing account with the farmer
-for services rendered, with the credits up to this time entirely on his
-side.
-
-Since the robin takes ten times as much wild as cultivated fruit,
-it seems unwise to destroy the birds to save so little. Nor is this
-necessary, for with care both birds and fruit may be preserved. Where
-much fruit is grown it is no great loss to give up one tree to the
-birds, and in some cases the crop can be protected by scarecrows.
-Where wild fruit is not abundant, a few fruit-bearing shrubs and vines
-judiciously planted will serve for ornament and provide food for the
-birds. The Russian mulberry is a vigorous grower and a profuse bearer,
-ripening at the same time as the cherry. So far as observation has
-gone, most birds seem to prefer its fruit to any other. It is believed
-that a number of mulberry trees planted around the garden or orchard
-would fully protect the more valuable fruits.
-
-Much has been written about the delicate discrimination of birds for
-choice fruit and their selection of only the finest and costliest
-varieties. This is contrary to observed facts. Birds, unlike human
-beings, seem to prefer fruit that, like the mulberry, is sweetly
-insipid, or that, like the chokecherry or holly, has some astringent
-or bitter quality. The so-called black alder, a species of holly, has
-bright scarlet berries tasting as bitter as quinine, that ripen late in
-October and remain on the bushes through November. Though frost grapes,
-the fruit of the Virginia creeper, and several species of dogwood are
-abundant at the same time, the birds have been found to eat the berries
-of the holly to a considerable extent. It is, moreover, a remarkable
-fact that the wild fruits upon which birds largely feed are those which
-man neither gathers for his own use nor adopts for cultivation.
-
-
-
-
-THE TITMICE.
-
-
-Birds of the titmouse family, though insignificant in size, are far
-from being so in the matter of food habits. What they lack in size of
-body they more than make up in numbers of individuals. While in the
-case of some larger birds, as, for instance, the flicker, there is
-one pair of eyes to look for food for one large stomach, we have in
-the case of the ten times as numerous titmice an equivalent stomach
-capacity divided into 10 parts, each furnished with a pair of eyes and
-other accessories, as wings and feet. As against the one place occupied
-by the larger bird, 10 are being searched for food at the same time by
-the smaller species.
-
-The character of the food of titmice gives a peculiar value to their
-services, for it consists largely of the small insects and their eggs
-that wholly escape the search of larger birds. Throughout the year most
-of the species of this group remain on their range, so that they are
-constantly engaged in their beneficial work, continuing it in winter
-when the majority of their co-workers have sought a milder clime. It is
-at this season that the titmice do their greatest good, for when flying
-and crawling insects are no more to be found, the birds must feed upon
-such species as they find hibernating in crevices, or upon the eggs of
-insects laid in similar places. In winter’s dearth of moving insects
-the search for such animal food as may be found is perforce thorough
-and unremitting.
-
-Within the boundaries of the United States are some 17 species of
-titmice, with nearly as many races or subspecies, so that there is
-no portion of the country lacking one or more forms. The western
-coast region is peculiarly rich in representatives of the family. In
-the eastern portion of the country the best-known and most widely
-distributed species is the common black-capped chickadee[8] (fig. 3).
-This bird, or some of its subspecies, occupies the whole of that part
-of the United States north of the latitude of Washington and extends
-into Canada. It is a prolific breeder, usually rearing from six to
-eight young in a brood.
-
-[8] _Penthestes atricapillus._
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 3.—Black-capped chickadee. Length, about 5¼ inches]
-
-Examination of 289 stomachs of this chickadee shows that its food
-consists of 68 per cent animal matter (insects) and 32 per cent
-vegetable matter. The former is made up of small caterpillars and
-moths and their eggs. Prominent among the latter are the eggs of the
-tent-caterpillar moths, both the orchard and forest species. As these
-are two of our most destructive insects, the good done by the chickadee
-in devouring their eggs needs no comment. During the winter the
-chickadee’s food is made up of larvæ, chrysalids, and eggs of moths,
-varied by a few seeds, but as spring brings out hordes of flying,
-crawling, and jumping insects, the bird varies its diet by taking also
-some of these. Flies and bugs are the favorites until the weather
-becomes quite warm, when beetles and small wasps also are enjoyed.
-Among the bugs may be mentioned the plant lice and their eggs which are
-eaten in winter. The beetles nearly all belong to the group of snout
-beetles, more commonly known as weevils. These insects are mostly of
-small size, and nearly all are known to the farmer or fruit raiser as
-pests. Seventeen of them were found in one stomach. The plum curculio
-and the cotton-boll weevil may be taken as fair examples. Grasshoppers
-do not at any time constitute an important element of the food of the
-chickadee, as they are too large for so small a bird; moreover they are
-for the most part terrestrial insects, while the bird is essentially
-arboreal. Small wasps and ants are eaten to some extent. Spiders
-constitute an important element of the food and are eaten at all times
-of the year, the birds locating them when they are hibernating in
-winter, as well as when they are active in summer. The vegetable food
-of the chickadee consists largely of small seeds except in summer when
-they are replaced by pulp of wild fruit. The wax from the seeds of
-poison ivy is eaten during the winter months, but the seeds themselves
-are not taken. In this respect the chickadee differs from most other
-birds which swallow the seeds whole; these, after digesting the wax,
-pass the seeds through the alimentary canal, and so scatter them
-broadcast to reproduce the noxious plants.
-
-In the southern part of the country the Carolina chickadee[9] and the
-tufted tit[10] replace the black-cap, but their food habits are so
-similar that there is practically no difference in the work done. In
-the West several other species occur; one of the most interesting is
-the bush tit[11] which, with several subspecies, occupies the whole
-Pacific coast region. They are active, social little creatures, and
-except for a short time during the breeding season are found in flocks,
-flitting from tree to tree, busily hunting for insects and their eggs
-The contents of 66 stomachs of these birds were found to consist
-mostly of injurious insects to the extent of 83 per cent. Of these the
-most important was a small hemipterous insect which amounted to more
-than half of the stomach contents. These insects are of considerable
-economic importance, as they frequently infest grapevines and other
-plants to a harmful extent. Several stomachs were almost exclusively
-filled with these minute creatures, some containing as many as 100
-individuals.
-
-[9] _Penthestes carolinensis._
-
-[10] _Bæolophus bicolor._
-
-[11] _Psaltriparus minimus._
-
-Perhaps the most important and interesting insect found was the black
-olive scale, which occurred in 24 stomachs and amounted to a little
-more than 18 per cent of the food. In addition a number of the stomachs
-were more or less filled with another scale, which was not further
-identified. A number of small snout beetles (weevils) were eaten and
-some small caterpillars; there were also the remains of a spider.
-
-The vegetable food of the species seemed to consist mostly of seeds,
-but they were so broken up as to defy recognition. A little fruit pulp
-and a little mast were also found.
-
-Among the stomachs of the bush tits examined were those of one brood
-of eight nestlings about 10 days old. The vegetable matter in these
-stomachs was only three-fourths of 1 per cent and consisted of one seed
-and some rubbish. The animal matter was made up of beetles, wasps,
-bugs, caterpillars and pupæ, and spiders. The greatest interest lies in
-the fact that every one of these stomachs contained pupæ of the codling
-moth, on an average of over five to each. The oak tree in which these
-birds were found was in a belt of timber near a neglected orchard which
-the parent birds used as a foraging ground, and they did their best to
-remedy the neglect of the owner. As feeding and digestion in the case
-of nestling birds is almost continuous during the hours of daylight,
-the above record would be several times repeated during a day’s
-feeding. There were probably not less than a dozen nests of the bush
-tit along the border of this orchard, and these birds must have exerted
-a great restrictive influence upon the increase of the codling moth, as
-well as of other insects in that vicinity.
-
-
-
-
-THE WRENS.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 4.—House wren. Length, about 4¾ inches.]
-
-The diminutive house wren[12] (fig. 4) frequents barns and gardens, and
-particularly old orchards in which the trees are partially decayed. He
-makes his nest in a hollow where perhaps a woodpecker had a domicile
-the year before, but he is a pugnacious character, and if he happens to
-fancy one of the boxes put up for bluebirds, he does not hesitate to
-take it. He is usually not slow to avail himself of boxes, gourds, tin
-cans, or empty jars placed for his accommodation.
-
-[12] _Troglodytes aëdon._
-
-In food habits the house wren is entirely beneficial. He may be said
-to live upon animal food alone, for an examination of 88 stomachs
-showed that 98 per cent of the contents was made up of insects or their
-allies, and only 2 per cent was vegetable food, including bits of grass
-and similar matter, evidently taken by accident with the insects. Half
-of this food consisted of grasshoppers and beetles; the remainder of
-caterpillars, bugs, and spiders. As the wren is a prolific breeder,
-frequently rearing in a season from 12 to 16 young, a family of these
-birds must cause considerable reduction in the number of insects in a
-garden. Wrens are industrious foragers, searching every tree, shrub,
-and vine for caterpillars, and examining every post and rail of the
-fence and every cranny in the wall for insects or spiders.
-
-The house wren is only one of a numerous group of small birds of
-similar habits. There are within the limits of the United States 28
-species and subspecies of wrens, occupying more or less completely the
-whole country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. With the exception
-of the marsh wrens,[13] they all appear to prefer some cosy nook for
-a nesting site, and, as it happens, the farm buildings afford just
-the place desired. This has led several of the wrens to seek out
-the habitations of man, and he is benefited by their destruction of
-noxious insects. No species of wren has been accused of harm, and their
-presence should be encouraged about every farm, ranch, village, or
-suburban residence.
-
-[13] _Telmatodytes palustris._
-
-
-
-
-BROWN THRASHER.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 5.—Brown thrasher. Length, about 11 inches.]
-
-The brown thrasher[14] (fig. 5) breeds throughout the United States
-east of the Great Plains, and winters in the South Atlantic and Gulf
-States. It occasionally visits the garden or orchard, but nests in
-swamps or in groves standing upon low ground. The thrasher’s favorite
-time for singing is in early morning, when, perched on the top of a
-tall bush or low tree, it gives an exhibition of vocal powers which
-would do credit to a mocking bird. Indeed, in the South, where the
-latter bird is abundant, the thrasher is known as the sandy mocker.
-
-[14] _Toxostoma rufum._
-
-The food of the brown thrasher consists of both fruit and insects. An
-examination of 636 stomachs showed 36 per cent of vegetable and 64 of
-animal food, practically all insects, and mostly taken in spring before
-fruit was ripe. Half the insects were beetles and the remainder chiefly
-grasshoppers, caterpillars, bugs, and spiders. A few predacious beetles
-were eaten, but on the whole the work of the species as an insect
-destroyer may be considered beneficial.
-
-Eight per cent of its food is made up of fruits like raspberries and
-currants which are or may be cultivated, but the raspberries at least
-are as likely to belong to wild as to cultivated varieties. Grain, made
-up mostly of scattered kernels of oats and corn, is merely a trifle,
-amounting to only 3 per cent. Though some of the corn may be taken from
-newly planted fields, it is amply paid for by the destruction of May
-beetles which are eaten at the same time. The rest of the food consists
-of wild fruit or seeds. Taken all in all, the brown thrasher is a
-useful bird, and probably does as good work in its secluded retreats
-as it would about the garden, for the swamps and groves are no doubt
-the breeding grounds of many insects that migrate thence to attack the
-crops of the farmer.
-
-
-
-
-CATBIRD.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 6.—Catbird. Length, about 9 inches.]
-
-The catbird[15] (fig. 6), like the thrasher, is a lover of swamps and
-delights to make its home in a tangle of wild grapevines, greenbriers,
-and shrubs, where it is safe from attack and can find its favorite
-food in abundance. It is found throughout the United States west to
-the Rocky Mountains, and extends also from Washington, Idaho, and Utah
-northward into the provinces of Canada. It winters in the Southern
-States, Cuba, Mexico, and Central America.
-
-[15] _Dumetella carolinensis._
-
-Reports from the Mississippi Valley indicate that the catbird is
-sometimes a serious annoyance to fruit growers. The reason for such
-reports may possibly be found in the fact that on the prairies
-fruit-bearing shrubs, which afford so large a part of this bird’s food,
-are conspicuously absent. With the settlement of this region comes an
-extensive planting of orchards, vineyards, and small-fruit gardens,
-which furnish shelter and nesting sites for the catbird as well as for
-other species. There is in consequence a large increase in the numbers
-of the birds, but no corresponding gain in the supply of native fruits
-upon which they were accustomed to feed. Under these circumstances
-what is more natural than for the birds to turn to cultivated fruits
-for their food? The remedy is obvious: Cultivated fruits can be
-protected by the simple expedient of planting the wild species which
-are preferred by the birds. Some experiments with catbirds in captivity
-show that the Russian mulberry is preferred to any cultivated fruit.
-
-The stomachs of 645 catbirds were examined and found to contain 44
-per cent of animal (insect) and 58 per cent of vegetable food. Ants,
-beetles, caterpillars, and grasshoppers constitute three-fourths of
-the animal food, the remainder being made up of bugs, miscellaneous
-insects, and spiders. One-third of the vegetable food consists of
-cultivated fruits, or those which may be cultivated, as strawberries,
-raspberries, and blackberries; but while we debit the bird with the
-whole of this, it is probable—and in the eastern and well-wooded part
-of the country almost certain—that a large part is obtained from wild
-vines. The rest of the vegetable matter is mostly wild fruit, as
-cherries, dogwood, sour gum, elderberries, greenbrier, spiceberries,
-black alder, sumac, and poison ivy. Although the catbird sometimes does
-considerable harm by destroying small fruit, it can not on the whole be
-considered injurious. On the contrary, in most parts of the country it
-does far more good than harm.
-
-
-
-
-THE SWALLOWS.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 7.—Barn swallow. Length, about 7 inches.]
-
-Seven common species of swallows are found within the limits of the
-United States, four of which have abandoned to some extent their
-primitive nesting habits and have attached themselves to the abodes of
-man.
-
-In the eastern part of the country the barn swallow[16] (fig. 7)
-now builds exclusively under roofs, having entirely abandoned the
-rock caves and cliffs in which it formerly nested. More recently the
-cliff swallow[17] has found a better nesting site under the eaves of
-buildings than was afforded by the overhanging cliffs of earth or
-stone which it once used and to which it still resorts occasionally in
-the East and habitually in the unsettled West. The martin[18] and the
-white-bellied, or tree, swallow[19] nest either in houses supplied for
-the purpose, in abandoned nests of woodpeckers, or in natural crannies
-in rocks. The northern violet-green swallow,[20] the rough-winged
-swallow,[21] and the bank swallow[22] still live in practically such
-places as their ancestors chose.
-
-[16] _Hirundo erythrogastra._
-
-[17] _Petrochelidon lunifrons._
-
-[18] _Progne subis._
-
-[19] _Iridoprocne bicolor._
-
-[20] _Tachycineta thalassina._
-
-[21] _Stelgidopteryx serripennis._
-
-[22] _Riparia riparia._
-
-Field observation convinces an ordinarily attentive person that
-the food of swallows must consist of the smaller insects captured
-in mid-air or picked from the tops of tall grass or weeds. This
-observation is borne out by an examination of stomachs, which shows
-that the food is made up of many small species of beetles which are
-much on the wing; many species of mosquitoes and their allies, together
-with large quantities of flying ants; and a few insects of similar
-kinds. Most of these are either injurious or annoying, and the numbers
-destroyed by swallows are not only beyond calculation but almost beyond
-imagination.
-
-Unlike many other groups of birds, the six species of swallows found in
-the Eastern States extend in a practically unchanged form across the
-continent, where they are reinforced by the northern, or Pacific-coast,
-violet-green swallow.
-
-It is a mistake to tear down from the eaves of a barn the nests of a
-colony of cliff swallows, for so far from disfiguring a building they
-make a picturesque addition to it, and the presence of swallows should
-be encouraged by every device. It is said that cliff and barn swallows
-may be induced to build their nests in a particular locality, otherwise
-suitable, by providing a quantity of mud to be used by them as mortar.
-Barn swallows may also be encouraged by cutting a small hole in the
-gable of the barn, while martins and white-bellied swallows will be
-grateful for boxes like those for the bluebird, but placed in a higher
-situation.
-
-
-
-
-TOWHEE.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 8.—Towhee. Length, about 8 inches.]
-
-The towhee, chewink, or ground robin[23] (fig. 8), as it is variously
-known, inhabits nearly the whole of the United States east of the Great
-Plains. It breeds from the Middle States northward and winters in the
-southern half of the country. Naturally associated with the catbird and
-brown thrasher, it lives in much the same places, though it is more
-given to haunting hedgerows along roads and fences. After snow has
-disappeared in early spring an investigation of the rustling so often
-heard among the leaves near a fence or in a thicket will frequently
-disclose a towhee hard at work scratching for his dinner after the
-manner of a hen; and in these places and along the sunny border of
-woods old leaves will be found overturned where the bird has been
-searching for hibernating beetles and larvæ. The good which the towhee
-does in this way can hardly be overestimated, since the death of a
-single insect at this time, before it has had an opportunity to deposit
-its eggs, is equivalent to the destruction of a host later in the year.
-The towhee has also been credited with visiting potato fields and
-feeding upon the potato beetle. Its vegetable food consists of seeds
-and small wild fruits, but no complaint on this score is known to have
-been made. So far as observation goes, the bird never touches either
-cultivated fruit or grain; in fact, it is too shy and retiring even to
-stay about gardens for any length of time.
-
-[23] _Pipilo erythrophthalmus._
-
-
-
-
-THE SPARROWS.[24]
-
-[24] The sparrows here mentioned are all native species. A full account
-of the English, or house, sparrow (_Passer domesticus_), including its
-introduction, habits, and depredations, was published in Bul. No. 1
-of the Division of Ornithology in 1889. For information in regard to
-combating the English sparrow, see Farmers’ Bulletin 493, The English
-Sparrow as a Pest, by Ned Dearborn, 1912.
-
-
-Sparrows are not obtrusive birds, either in plumage, song, or action.
-There are some 40 species, with nearly as many subspecies, in North
-America. Not more than half a dozen forms are generally known in any
-one locality. All the species are more or less migratory, but so widely
-are they distributed that there is probably no part of the country
-where some can not be found throughout the year.
-
-While sparrows are noted seed eaters, they do not by any means confine
-themselves to a vegetable diet. During the summer, and especially in
-the breeding season, they eat many insects and feed their young largely
-upon the same food. Examination of stomachs of three species—the song
-sparrow[25] (fig. 9), chipping sparrow,[26] and field sparrow[27]
-(fig. 10)—shows that about one-third of the food consists of insects,
-comprising many injurious beetles, as snout beetles or weevils, and
-leaf beetles. Many grasshoppers are eaten. In the case of the chipping
-sparrow these insects form one-eighth of the food. Grasshoppers would
-seem to be rather large morsels, but the bird probably confines
-itself to the smaller species; indeed, the greatest amount (over 36
-per cent) is eaten in June, when the larger species are still young
-and the smaller most numerous. Besides the insects already mentioned,
-many wasps and bugs are taken. Predacious and parasitic hymenopterous
-insects and predacious beetles, all useful, are eaten only to a slight
-extent, so that as a whole the insect diet of the native sparrows may
-be considered beneficial. There are several records of potato-bug larvæ
-eaten by chipping sparrow’s.
-
-[25] _Melospiza melodia._
-
-[26] _Spizella passerina._
-
-[27] _Spizella pusilla._
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 9.—Song sparrow. Length, about 6½ inches.]
-
-Their vegetable food is limited almost exclusively to hard seeds.
-This might seem to indicate that the birds feed to some extent upon
-grain, but the stomachs examined show only one kind, oats, and but
-little of that. The great bulk of the food is made up of grass and weed
-seed, which form almost the entire diet during winter, and the amount
-consumed is immense.
-
-In the agricultural region of the upper Mississippi Valley, by
-roadsides, on borders of cultivated fields, or in abandoned fields,
-wherever they can obtain a foothold, masses of rank weeds spring up and
-often form almost impenetrable thickets which afford food and shelter
-for immense numbers of birds and enable them to withstand great cold
-and the most terrible blizzards. A person visiting one of these weed
-patches on a sunny morning in January, when the thermometer is 20° or
-more below zero, will be struck with the life and animation of the busy
-little inhabitants. Instead of sitting forlorn and half frozen, they
-may be seen flitting from branch to branch, twittering and fluttering,
-and showing every evidence of enjoyment and perfect comfort. If one of
-them is captured it will be found in excellent condition; in fact, a
-veritable ball of fat.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 10.—Field sparrow. Length, about 5½ inches.]
-
-The snowbird[28] and tree sparrow[29] are perhaps the most numerous of
-all the sparrows. Examination of many stomachs shows that in winter the
-tree sparrow feeds entirely upon seeds of weeds. Probably each bird
-consumes about one-fourth of an ounce a day. In an article contributed
-in 1881 to the New York Tribune the writer estimated the amount of
-weed seed annually destroyed by these birds in Iowa. On the basis of
-one-fourth of an ounce of seed eaten daily by each bird, and an average
-of ten birds to each square mile, remaining in their winter range
-200 days, there would be a total of 1,750,000 pounds, or 875 tons of
-weed seed consumed in a single season by this one species. Large as
-are these figures, they unquestionably fall far short of the reality.
-The estimate of 10 birds to a square mile is very conservative, for
-in Massachusetts, where the food supply is less than in the Western
-States, the tree sparrow is even more abundant than this in winter.
-The writer has known places in Iowa where several thousand tree
-sparrows could be seen within the space of a few acres. This estimate,
-moreover, is for a single species, while, as a matter of fact, there
-are at least half a dozen birds (not all sparrows) that habitually
-feed during winter on these seeds. Farther south the tree sparrow is
-replaced in winter by the white-throated sparrow,[30] the white-crowned
-sparrow,[31] the fox sparrow,[32] the song sparrow, the field sparrow,
-and several others; so that all over the land a vast number of these
-seed eaters are at work during the colder months reducing next year’s
-crop of worse than useless plants.
-
-[28] _Junco hyemails._
-
-[29] _Spizella monticola._
-
-[30] _Zonotrichia albicollis._
-
-[31] _Zonotrichia leucophrys._
-
-[32] _Passerella iliaca._
-
-
-
-
-HOUSE FINCH.
-
-
-Of all the sparrow group, there is probably no member, unless it be
-the exotic form known as the English sparrow,[33] that has by reason
-of its food habits called down so many maledictions upon its head as
-the house finch,[34] red-head, or linnet, as it is variously called.
-This bird, like the other members of its family, is by nature a seed
-eater, and before the beginning of fruit raising in California probably
-subsisted upon the seeds of weeds, with an occasional taste of some
-wild berry. Now, however, when orchards have extended throughout the
-length and breadth of the State and every month from May to December
-sees some ripening fruit, the linnets take their share. As their name
-is legion, the sum total of the fruit that they destroy is more than
-the fruit raiser can well spare. As the bird has a stout beak, it has
-no difficulty in breaking the skin of the hardest fruit and feasting
-upon the pulp, thereby spoiling the fruit and giving weaker-billed
-birds a chance to sample and acquire a taste for what they might not
-otherwise have molested. Complaints against this bird have been many
-and loud, more especially in the years when fruit crops first came to
-be an important factor in the prosperity of the Pacific coast. At that
-time the various fruits afforded the linnets a new and easily obtained
-food, while cultivation had reduced their formerly abundant supply
-of weed seed. When the early fruit growers saw their expected golden
-harvest suddenly snatched away or at least much reduced in value by the
-little marauders, it is no wonder that they were exasperated and wished
-to destroy the authors of the mischief.
-
-[33] _Passer domesticus._
-
-[34] _Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis._
-
-In order to test the matter thoroughly and ascertain whether these
-birds ate any other kind of food that might to some extent offset the
-damage inflicted upon the fruit, the horticulturists and ornithologists
-of California were requested to secure a number of the stomachs of
-these birds and send them to the Biological Survey. An agent was also
-sent to the fruit-raising sections, who watched the birds in the
-orchards and collected a number of them. In this way 1,206 stomachs
-were obtained and carefully examined, and the result shows that animal
-food (insects) constituted 2.44 per cent and vegetable food 97.56 per
-cent of the stomach contents, not counting gravel.
-
-So small a proportion of animal food can not, of course, mean a great
-destruction of insects. As these stomachs were collected in every
-month, with the greater number taken during the summer, it is evident
-that whatever good one may expect from the linnet must not be looked
-for in this direction. Unlike most of the sparrow family, the linnet
-does not feed its young upon insects to any great extent. The contents
-of the stomachs of a number of nestlings were carefully examined, and
-the only animal food was found to consist of woolly plant lice. These
-also constituted the great bulk of the animal food eaten by adults.
-
-The vegetable food of the species consists of three principal
-items—grain, fruit, and weed seeds. Grain amounts to less than 1½ per
-cent in August, which is the month of greatest consumption, and the
-average for the year is a trifle more than one-fourth of 1 per cent.
-Fruit attains its maximum in September, when it amounts to 27 per cent
-of the whole food, but the average for the year is only 10 per cent.
-The seeds of weeds constitute the bulk of the diet of the linnet, and
-in August, the month of least consumption, amount to about 64 per cent
-of the food. The average for the year is 86 per cent.
-
-From the foregoing it is evident that whatever the linnet’s sins may
-be, grain eating is not one of them. In view of the great complaint
-made against its fruit-eating habit, the small quantity found in the
-stomachs taken is somewhat of a surprise. But it must be remembered
-that the stomach contents do not tell the whole story. When a bird
-takes a single peck from a cherry or an apricot, it spoils the whole
-fruit, and in this way may ruin half a dozen in taking a single meal.
-It is safe to say that the fruit pulp found in the stomach does not
-represent more than one-fifth of what is actually destroyed. That the
-linnets are persistent and voracious eaters of early fruits, especially
-cherries and apricots, every fruit raiser in California will bear
-testimony. That the damage is often serious no one will deny. It is
-noticeable, however, that the earliest varieties are the ones most
-affected; also, that in large orchards the damage is not perceptible,
-while in small plantations the whole crop is frequently destroyed.
-
-
-
-
-THE GRACKLES.
-
-
-The crow blackbird or grackle[35] (fig. 11) in one or more of its
-subspecies is a familiar object in all the States east of the Rocky
-Mountains. Throughout the year it is resident as far north as
-southern Illinois, and in summer extends its range into the Canadian
-Provinces. In the Mississippi Valley it is one of the most abundant
-of birds, preferring to nest in the artificial groves and windbreaks
-near farms instead of in the natural “timber” which it formerly used.
-It breeds also in parks and near buildings, often in considerable
-colonies. Farther east, in New England, it is only locally abundant,
-though frequently seen in migration. In the latter days of August and
-throughout September it is found in immense numbers before moving
-southward.
-
-[35] _Quiscalus quiscula._
-
-The grackle is accused of many sins, such as stealing grain and fruit
-and robbing the nests of other birds. An examination of 2,346 stomachs
-shows that nearly one-third of its food consists of insects, most of
-which are injurious. The bird also eats a few snails, crawfishes,
-salamanders, small fish, and occasionally a mouse. The stomach contents
-do not indicate that it robs other birds’ nests to any great extent, as
-remains of birds and birds’ eggs amount to less than half of 1 per cent.
-
-It is on account of its vegetable food that the grackle most deserves
-condemnation. Grain is eaten during the whole year, and only for a
-short time in summer is other food attractive enough to induce the
-bird to alter its diet. The grain taken in winter and spring probably
-consists of waste kernels from the stubble. The stomachs do not
-indicate that the bird pulls sprouting grain; but the wheat eaten in
-July and August and the corn eaten in fall are probably from fields
-of standing grain. The total amount of grain consumed during the year
-constitutes 45 per cent of the food, but it is safe to say that at
-least half is waste grain and consequently of no value. Although the
-crow blackbird eats a few cherries and blackberries in their season,
-and in the fall some wild fruit, it apparently does no damage in this
-way.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 11.—Purple grackle. Length, about 12 inches.]
-
-Large flocks of grackles no doubt do considerable injury to grain
-crops, and there seems to be no remedy, except the destruction of
-the birds, which is in itself expensive. During the breeding season,
-however, the species does much good by eating insects and by feeding
-them to its young, which are reared almost entirely upon this food.
-The bird does the greatest amount of good in spring, when it follows
-the plow in search of large grubworms, of which it is so fond that it
-sometimes literally crams its stomach full of them.
-
-
-
-
-BREWER BLACKBIRD.
-
-
-The Brewer blackbird[36] takes the place in the Western States of the
-grackle, or crow blackbird, which lives in the Mississippi Valley and
-farther east and is very similar in appearance and habits. It breeds
-east to the Great Plains and north into Canada, and winters over most
-of its breeding range in the United States and south to Guatemala. At
-home in fields, meadows, and orchards, and about ranch buildings and
-cultivated lands generally, it nests in bushes and weeds, sometimes in
-trees, and is very gregarious, especially about barnyards and corrals.
-The bird feeds freely in stockyards and in cultivated fields, and when
-fruit is ripe does not hesitate to take a share. During the cherry
-season in California the birds are much in the orchards. In one case
-they were observed feeding on cherries, but when a neighboring fruit
-grower began to plow his orchard almost every blackbird in the vicinity
-was upon the newly opened ground close after the plowman’s heels in its
-eagerness to secure the insects turned up.
-
-[36] _Euphagus cyanocephalus._
-
-The laboratory investigation of this bird’s food covered 312 stomachs,
-collected in every month and representing especially the fruit and
-grain sections of southern California. The animal portion of the food
-was 32 per cent and the vegetable 68 per cent.
-
-Caterpillars and their pupæ amounted to 12 per cent of the whole food
-and were eaten every month. They include many of those pests known as
-cutworms. The cotton-boll worm, or corn-ear worm, was identified in at
-least 10 stomachs, and in 11 were found pupæ of the codling moth. The
-animal food also included other insects, and spiders, sow bugs, snails,
-and eggshells.
-
-The vegetable food may be divided into fruit, grain, and weed seeds.
-Fruit was eaten in May, June, and July, not a trace appearing in any
-other month, and was composed of cherries, or what was thought to be
-such, strawberries, blackberries or raspberries, and fruit pulp or
-skins not further identified. However, the amount, a little more than
-4 per cent for the year, was too small to make a bad showing, and if
-the bird does no greater harm than is involved in its fruit eating it
-is well worth protecting. Grain amounts to 54 per cent of the yearly
-food and forms a considerable percentage in each month; oats are the
-favorite and were the sole contents of 14 stomachs, and wheat of 2,
-but no stomach was completely filled with any other grain. Weed seeds,
-eaten in every month to the extent of 9 per cent of the food, were
-found in rather small quantities and irregularly, and appear to have
-been merely a makeshift.
-
-Stomachs of nestlings, varying in age from 24 hours to some that were
-nearly fledged, were found to contain 89 per cent animal to 11 per cent
-vegetable matter. The largest items in the former were caterpillars,
-grasshoppers, and spiders. In the latter the largest items were fruit,
-probably cherries; grain, mostly oats; and rubbish.
-
-
-
-
-BALTIMORE ORIOLE.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 12.—Baltimore oriole. Length, about 7½ inches.]
-
-Brilliancy of plumage, sweetness of song, and food habits to which no
-exception can be taken are some of the striking characteristics of the
-Baltimore oriole[37] (fig. 12). In summer it is found throughout the
-northern half of the United States east of the Great Plains. Its nest
-commands hardly less admiration than the beauty of its plumage or the
-excellence of its song. Hanging from the tip of the outermost bough of
-a stately elm, it is almost inaccessible to depredators and so strongly
-fastened as to bid defiance to the elements.
-
-[37] _Icterus galbula._
-
-Observation both in the field and laboratory shows that caterpillars
-constitute the largest item of the fare of the oriole. In 204 stomachs
-they formed 34 per cent of the food, and they are eaten in varying
-quantities during all the months in which the bird remains in this
-country. The fewest are eaten in July, when a little fruit also is
-taken. The other insects consist of beetles, bugs, ants, wasps,
-grasshoppers, and some spiders. The beetles are principally click
-beetles, the larvæ of which are among the most destructive insects
-known; and the bugs include plant and bark lice, both very harmful, but
-so small and obscure as to be passed over unnoticed by most birds. Ants
-are eaten mostly in spring, grasshoppers in July and August, and wasps
-and spiders with considerable regularity throughout the season.
-
-During the stay of the oriole in the United States, vegetable matter
-amounts to only a little more than 16 per cent of its food, so that the
-possibility of its doing much damage to crops is very limited. The bird
-is accused of eating peas to a considerable extent, but remains of such
-were found in only two cases. One writer says that it damages grapes,
-but none were found in the stomachs.
-
-
-
-
-BULLOCK ORIOLE.
-
-
-The Bullock oriole[38] is practically a counterpart of the Baltimore
-oriole, taking the place of that species west of the Plains and
-throughout the Pacific coast region. It does not essentially differ in
-its habits of nesting or in its food from its eastern relative, but it
-is less beautiful in plumage. The examination of 162 stomachs shows
-that 79 per cent of its food consists of insects, with a few spiders,
-a lizard, a mollusk shell, and eggshells. Beetles amounted to 35 per
-cent, and all except a few ladybugs were harmful species. Ants were
-found in 19 stomachs, and in one there was nothing else. Bees, wasps,
-etc., were in 56 stomachs, and entirely filled 2 of them. Including the
-ants, they amount to nearly 15 per cent of the food of the season.
-
-[38] _Icterus bullocki._
-
-One of the most interesting articles of food in the oriole’s dietary
-was the black olive scale, found in 45 stomachs, and amounting to 5
-per cent of the food. In several cases these scales formed 80 per cent
-or more of the contents, and in one, 30 individual scales could be
-counted. They were evidently a standard article of diet, and were eaten
-regularly in every month of the oriole’s stay except April. Hemipterous
-insects other than scales, eaten quite regularly, make up a little more
-than 5 per cent of the food. They were mostly stinkbugs, leaf hoppers,
-and tree hoppers. Plant lice were found in one stomach.
-
-Moths, pupæ, and caterpillars compose the largest item of the oriole’s
-animal food. The average consumption during its summer stay is a
-little more than 41 per cent. Of these, perhaps the most interesting
-were the pupæ and larvæ of the codling moth. These were found in 23
-stomachs, showing that they are not an unusual article of diet. No
-less than 14 of the pupa cases were found in one stomach, and as they
-are very fragile many others may have been present, but broken beyond
-recognition.
-
-Grasshoppers probably do not come much in the oriole’s way. They were
-eaten, however, to the extent of a little more than 3 per cent. But in
-spite of the fact that grasshoppers are eaten so sparingly, 2 stomachs,
-both taken in June, contained nothing else, and another contained 97
-per cent of them.
-
-Various insects and spiders, with a few other items, make up the rest
-of the animal food, a little more than 5 per cent. Spiders are not
-important in the oriole’s food, but are probably eaten whenever found.
-They were identified in 44 stomachs, but in small numbers. The scales
-of a lizard were found in one stomach and the shell of a snail in
-another.
-
-The vegetable contingent of the oriole’s food is mostly fruit,
-especially in June and July, when it takes kindly to cherries and
-apricots, and sometimes eats more than the fruit grower considers a
-fair share. However, no great complaint is made against the bird, and
-it is probable that as a rule it does not do serious harm. With such a
-good record as an insect eater it can well be spared a few cherries.
-
-
-
-
-THE MEADOWLARKS.
-
-
-The eastern meadowlark[39] (fig. 13) is a common and well-known bird
-occurring from the Atlantic coast to the Great Plains, where it gives
-way to the closely related western species,[40] which extends thence
-westward to the Pacific. It winters from our southern border as far
-north as the District of Columbia, southern Illinois, and occasionally
-Iowa. The western form winters somewhat farther north. Although it is a
-bird of the plains, and finds its most congenial haunts in the prairies
-of the West, it is at home wherever there is level or undulating land
-covered with grass or weeds, with plenty of water at hand.
-
-[39] _Sturnella magna._
-
-[40] _Sturnella neglecta._
-
-In the 1,514 stomachs examined, animal food (practically all insects)
-constituted 74 per cent of the contents and vegetable matter 26 per
-cent. As would naturally be supposed, the insects were ground species,
-as beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, with a few flies,
-wasps, and spiders. A number of the stomachs were collected when
-the ground was covered with snow, but even these contained a large
-percentage of insects, showing the bird’s skill in finding proper food
-under adverse circumstances.
-
-Of the various insects eaten, crickets and grasshoppers are the most
-important, constituting 26 per cent of the food of the year and 72 per
-cent of the food in August. It is scarcely necessary to mention the
-beneficial effect of a number of these birds on a field of grass in the
-height of the grasshopper season. Of the 1,514 stomachs collected at
-all seasons of the year, 778, or more than half, contained remains of
-grasshoppers, and one was filled with fragments of 37 of these insects.
-This seems to show conclusively that grasshoppers are preferred, and
-are eaten whenever they can be found. Especially notable is the great
-number taken in August, the month when grasshoppers reach their maximum
-abundance; stomach examination shows that large numbers of birds resort
-at this time to this diet, no matter what may be the food during the
-rest of the year.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 13.—Meadowlark. Length, about 10 inches.]
-
-Next to grasshoppers, beetles make up the most important item of the
-meadowlark’s food, amounting to 25 per cent, about one-half of which
-are predacious ground beetles. The others are all harmful species.
-
-Forty-two individuals of different kinds of May beetles were found in
-the stomachs of meadowlarks, and there were probably many more which
-were past recognition. To this form and several closely allied ones
-belong the numerous white grubs, which are among the worst enemies to
-many cultivated crops, notably grasses and grains, and to a less extent
-strawberries and garden vegetables. In the larval stage they eat the
-roots of these plants, and being large, one individual may destroy
-several plants. In the adult stage they feed upon the foliage of trees
-and other plants, and in this way add to the damage which they began
-in the earlier form. As these enemies of husbandry are not easily
-destroyed by man, it is obviously wise to encourage their natural foes.
-
-Among the weevils found in the stomachs the most important economically
-are the cotton-boll weevil and the recently introduced alfalfa weevil
-of Utah. Several hundred meadowlarks were taken in the cotton-growing
-region, and the boll weevil was found in 25 stomachs of the eastern
-meadowlark and in 16 of the western species. Of the former, one stomach
-contained 27 individuals. Of 25 stomachs of western meadowlarks taken
-in alfalfa fields of Utah, 15 contained the alfalfa weevil. In one
-stomach 23 adults were found, in another 32 adults and 70 larvæ, still
-another had 10 adults and 40 larvæ, while a fourth had 4 adults and 100
-larvæ.
-
-Caterpillars form a very constant element of the food, and in May
-constitute over 24 per cent of the whole. May is the month when the
-dreaded cutworm begins its deadly career, and then the lark does some
-of its best work. Most of these caterpillars are ground feeders, and
-are overlooked by birds which habitually frequent trees, but the
-meadowlark finds and devours them by thousands. The remainder of the
-insect food is made up of ants, wasps, and spiders, with some bugs,
-including chinch bugs, and a few scales.
-
-The vegetable food consists of grain and weed and other hard seeds.
-Grain in general amounts to 11 per cent and weed and other seeds to
-7 per cent. Grain, principally corn, is eaten mostly in winter and
-early spring and consists, therefore, of waste kernels; only a trifle
-is consumed in summer and autumn, when it is most plentiful. No trace
-of sprouting grain was discovered. Clover seed was found in only six
-stomachs, and but little in each. Seeds of weeds, principally ragweed,
-barnyard grass, and smartweed, are eaten from November to April,
-inclusive, but during the rest of the year are replaced by insects.
-
-Briefly stated, more than half of the meadowlark’s food consists of
-harmful insects; its vegetable food is composed either of noxious
-weeds or waste grain, and the remainder is made up of useful beetles
-or neutral insects and spiders. A strong point in the bird’s favor
-is that, although naturally an insect eater, it is able to subsist
-on vegetable food, and consequently is not forced to migrate in cold
-weather farther than is necessary to find ground free from snow.
-
-
-
-
-THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS.
-
-
-The red-winged or swamp blackbird[41] in its various forms (fig. 14)
-is found all over the United States and the region immediately to the
-north. While common in most of its range, its distribution is more or
-less local, mainly on account of its partiality for marshes. It builds
-its nest over or near standing water, in tall grass, rushes, or bushes.
-Owing to this peculiarity the bird may be absent from large tracts of
-country which afford no swamps or marshes suitable for nesting. It
-usually breeds in large colonies, though single families, consisting
-of a male and several females, may sometimes be found in a small
-slough, where each female builds her nest and rears her own little
-brood, while her liege lord displays his brilliant colors and struts in
-the sunshine. In the upper Mississippi Valley the species finds most
-favorable conditions, for the countless prairie sloughs and the margins
-of the numerous shallow lakes afford nesting sites for thousands of
-red-wings; and here are bred the immense flocks which sometimes do
-so much damage to the grain fields of the West. After the breeding
-season the birds congregate preparatory to migration, and remain thus
-associated throughout the winter.
-
-[41] _Agelaius phœniceus._
-
-Three species and several subspecies of red-wings are recognized,[42]
-but practically no difference exists in the habits of these forms
-either in nesting or feeding, except such as may result from local
-conditions. Most of the forms are found on the Pacific side of
-the continent, and may be considered as included in the following
-statements as to food and economic status.
-
-[42] _Agelaius phœniceus_ (8 forms), _Agelaius gubernator_, and
-_Agelaius tricolor_.
-
-Many complaints have been made against the red-wing, and several States
-have at times placed a bounty upon its head. It is said to cause great
-damage to grain in the West, especially in the upper Mississippi
-Valley, but no complaints come from the northeastern section, where the
-bird is much less abundant than in the West and South.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 14.—Red-winged blackbird. Length, about 9½ inches.]
-
-Examination of 1,083 stomachs showed that vegetable matter forms 74 per
-cent of the food, while animal matter, mainly insects, forms but 20
-per cent. A little more than 10 per cent consists of beetles, mostly
-harmful species. Weevils, or snout beetles, amount to 4 per cent of
-the year’s food, but in June reach 25 per cent. As weevils are among
-the most harmful insects known, their destruction should condone some,
-at least, of the sins of which the bird is accused. Grasshoppers
-constitute nearly 5 per cent of the food, while the rest of the animal
-matter is made up of various insects, a few snails, and crustaceans.
-The few dragon flies found were probably picked up dead, for they
-are too active to be taken alive, unless by a bird of the flycatcher
-family. So far as the insect food as a whole is concerned, the red-wing
-may be considered entirely beneficial.
-
-The interest in the vegetable food of this bird centers around grain.
-Only three kinds, corn, wheat, and oats, were found in the stomachs
-in appreciable quantities. They aggregate but little more than 13 per
-cent of the whole food, oats forming nearly half of this amount. In
-view of the many complaints that the red-wing eats grain, this record
-is surprisingly small. The purple grackle has been found to eat more
-than three times as much. In the case of the crow, corn forms one-third
-of the food, so that the red-winged blackbird, whose diet is made
-up of only a trifle more than one-eighth of grain, is really one of
-the least destructive species. The most important item of the bird’s
-food, however, is weed seed, which forms practically all of its food
-in winter and about 57 per cent of the fare of the whole year. The
-principal weed seeds eaten are those of ragweed, barnyard grass, and
-smartweed. That these seeds are preferred is shown by the fact that
-the birds begin to eat them in August, when grain is still readily
-obtainable, and continue feeding on them even after insects become
-plentiful in April. The red-wing eats very little fruit and does
-practically no harm to garden or orchard. Nearly seven-eighths of its
-food is made up of weed seed or of insects injurious to agriculture,
-indicating unmistakably that the bird should be protected, except,
-perhaps, in a few places where it is overabundant.
-
-
-
-
-BOBOLINK.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 15.—Bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird. Length,
-about 7 inches.]
-
-The bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird[43] (fig. 15) is a common summer
-resident of the United States, north of about latitude 40°, and from
-New England westward to the Great Plains, wintering beyond our southern
-border. In New England there are few birds about which so much romance
-clusters as this rollicking songster, naturally associated with sunny
-June meadows; but in the South there are none on whose head so many
-maledictions have been heaped on account of its fondness for rice.
-During its sojourn in the Northern States it feeds mainly upon insects
-and seeds of useless plants; but while rearing its young, insects
-constitute its chief food, and almost the exclusive diet of its brood.
-After the young are able to fly, the whole family gathers into a small
-flock and begins to live almost entirely upon vegetable food. This
-consists for the most part of weed seeds, since in the North these
-birds do not appear to attack grain to any great extent. They eat a
-few oats, but their stomachs do not reveal a great quantity of this or
-any other grain. As the season advances they gather into larger flocks
-and move southward, until by the end of August nearly all have left
-their breeding grounds. On their way they frequent the reedy marshes
-about the mouths of rivers and on the inland waters of the coast region
-and subsist largely upon wild rice. In the Middle States, during
-their southward migration, they are commonly known as reed birds, and
-becoming very fat are treated as game.
-
-[43] _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
-
-Formerly, when the low marshy shores of the Carolinas and some of
-the more southern States were devoted to rice culture the bobolinks
-made great havoc both upon the sprouting rice in spring and upon the
-ripening grain on their return migration in the fall. With a change in
-the rice-raising districts, however, this damage is no longer done.
-
-
-
-
-CROW.
-
-
-In one or another of its geographic races the common crow[44] (fig. 16)
-breeds in great numbers throughout the States east of the Plains and
-from the Gulf well up into Canada, while in less abundance it is found
-in California and in the Northwestern States. During the colder months
-a southern migratory movement brings most of these birds within the
-borders of the United States, and at about the latitude of Philadelphia
-and southern Illinois we find them congregating nightly in roosts.
-Farmers dwelling in the vicinity of such roosts frequently suffer
-losses to shocked corn.
-
-[44] _Corvus brachyrhynchos._
-
-In fact none of our native birds so much concerns the average farmer of
-the Eastern States as the common crow. Many of our present criticisms
-of this bird, as its pulling sprouting corn, feeding on ripening ears,
-damaging fruits of various kinds, destroying poultry and wild birds,
-and disseminating diseases of live stock, were common complaints in the
-days of the early colonists. Many of the virtues of the crow, now quite
-generally recognized, also have been matters of record for many years.
-In recent times, however, scientific study of these problems, including
-the examination of the stomachs of hundreds of crows secured in every
-month of the year and under a variety of conditions, has enabled us to
-render a much fairer verdict than was formerly possible.
-
-The crow is practically omnivorous. During spring and early summer any
-form of insect life seems to make a desirable item in its diet, and in
-winter when hard pressed nothing in the animal or vegetable kingdoms
-which contains a morsel of nutriment is overlooked.
-
-The insect food of the crow, which comprises about a fifth of
-its yearly sustenance, does much to atone for its misdemeanors.
-Grasshoppers, May beetles and their larvæ (white grubs), caterpillars,
-weevils, and wireworms stand out prominently. In 1,103 stomachs
-examined these highly injurious forms comprised over 80 per cent of the
-insect food. Grasshoppers are naturally taken in greatest abundance
-late in the season, September being the month of largest consumption,
-when they form about a fifth of the total food. May beetles and
-white grubs are eaten in every month except January, but occur most
-prominently in May. In June caterpillars are a favorite food, and
-weevils of various kinds are taken in varying quantities throughout
-summer and fall. About half of the remaining 20 per cent of insect food
-is composed of beneficial ground beetles, ladybirds, predacious bugs,
-and parasitic wasps, and related forms, the rest consisting of neutral
-or injurious forms. Numerous instances are on record where fields badly
-infested with white grubs or grasshoppers have been favorite resorts
-of crows, whose voracity has resulted in a material suppression of the
-pest. When the amount of food required to sustain the individual crow
-is considered, the work of these birds appears all the more important.
-Single stomachs containing upward of 50 grasshoppers are not uncommon.
-Thus in its choice of insect food the crow is rendering an important
-service to the farmer.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 16.—Crow. Length, about 19 inches.]
-
-
-In the other animal food of the crow are several items of the utmost
-economic importance. Spiders are taken in considerable numbers in May
-and June, but the yearly total is a little over 1 per cent of the
-food. In early spring crawfish are eagerly sought, and other aquatic
-food as fish and mollusks lend variety to the crow’s bill of fare the
-year round. In the consumption of toads, salamanders, frogs, and some
-snakes, which together compose a little over 2 per cent of the yearly
-food, the crow is doubtless doing harm. Small rodents occurred in the
-stomachs collected nearly every month, but it is often difficult to
-determine whether small mammals found in birds’ stomachs were taken
-alive or found dead.
-
-From its carrion-eating habits the crow has been unfairly criticized as
-a disseminator of live-stock diseases. While this may be to some extent
-just, the fact that there are many other important carriers which lie
-largely beyond our control, shows that we must seek final relief only
-through the strictest methods of sanitation.
-
-The nest-robbing habit of the crow, long a serious criticism, is
-verified by stomach analysis. Fifty of the 1,103 crows examined had fed
-on wild birds or their eggs, and the eggs of domestic fowls were found
-slightly more frequently. The crow’s habit of rummaging about garbage
-piles may explain much of this latter material.
-
-Of the vegetable food, corn, which is eaten every month, is the most
-important item and forms about a third of the yearly diet. Much of
-this, however, must be considered waste. Over 60 per cent is consumed
-from the first of November to the end of March. During the periods when
-corn is sprouting and when in the “roasting-ear” stage the crow is
-eating this grain at a rate considerably less than the yearly average,
-and the months of smallest consumption are July and August. At times,
-however, the damage to corn becomes a serious problem, and were it not
-possible to make use of such deterrents as coal tar upon seed corn
-there would be little friendship for the crow in some sections of the
-East. The “pulling” of corn is a trait most prevalent in small-field
-areas. Wheat and oats suffer similar damage at times, especially in the
-Northwestern States, where these grains predominate. About the only
-safeguard to ripening grain is the constant use of powder and shot or
-the scarecrow.
-
-Various kinds of cultivated fruits also are eaten, and local damage
-to such crops as apples, melons, peas, beans, peanuts, and almonds is
-occasionally reported. In long, rigorous winters, the crow, like other
-birds, resorts to the fruit of numerous wild plants, as dogwood, sour
-gum, hackberry, smilax, and the several species of sumac and poison ivy.
-
-Damage to the eggs of poultry may be reduced to a minimum by careful
-housing of laying hens, and the farmer can protect his sprouting grain
-to a large extent by the use of tar-coated seed. It will be well also
-to keep the crow within reasonable numbers on game preserves and public
-parks where it is desired to encourage the nesting of smaller birds.
-While legal protection is not needed for so wary an individual as the
-crow, it seems well, where local conditions have not aggravated some
-particular shortcomings of the bird, to allow it to continue the good
-services rendered to man in the destruction of noxious insects.
-
-
-
-
-BLUE JAY.
-
-
-The blue jay[45] (fig. 17) is a conspicuous member of our bird
-population east of the Plains, especially in autumn when his brilliant
-plumage contrasts vividly with the brown foliage. Even in winter he
-stays with us, though at this time he is less common along our northern
-border. In spring and summer, while by no means uncommon, the blue jay
-is not so often noticed, as the retiring disposition which he assumes
-during the breeding season assists in protecting him from enemies. This
-also allows him to carry on with considerable impunity that inglorious
-practice of nest robbing of which, in a measure, he has been rightfully
-accused.
-
-[45] _Cyanocitta cristata._
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 17.—Blue jay. Length, about 11½ inches.]
-
-Examination of 530 stomachs collected at all times of the year in 30
-of our Eastern States and Canada shows that insects comprise about 22
-per cent of the yearly sustenance. About three-fourths of these are
-injurious, the remainder being neutral or beneficial. Of the injurious
-insects grasshoppers form the largest portion; in August nearly a
-fifth of the food. Caterpillars are conspicuous in July and August
-and at this time average about a tenth of the stomach contents. Both
-laboratory investigations and field observations have established
-the fact that in winter the eggs of the tent caterpillar and the
-hibernating larvæ of the brown-tail moth in New England are eagerly
-sought. Scarabæid beetles form about 4 per cent of the yearly food, and
-click beetles and wireworms about 1 per cent. Of the beneficial forms
-ground beetles (3 per cent) and hymenopterous insects, part of which
-are parasitic (2.5 percent), are taken most frequently. A few other
-invertebrates, as spiders, millipedes, mollusks, and crustaceans, also
-are eaten throughout the year.
-
-In the consideration of the vertebrate food of the blue jay we are
-confronted with the problem of the destruction of wild birds and
-their eggs. Special search was made for every possible trace of such
-material in the stomachs, and in 6 of the 530 were found the remains
-of wild birds or their eggs. In February two jays had killed a small
-bird apiece; in May one had robbed a nest of eggs; in June two had
-taken a small bird and a clutch of eggs, respectively; and in August
-another had robbed a nest. As this trait of the jay appears to be
-most pronounced during its own breeding season, it is quite possible
-for many birds which have suffered from his boldness early in the
-season to raise another brood unmolested. Thirty-nine of the 530 jays
-examined had fed on hen’s eggs Much of this food, however, was picked
-up about rubbish heaps to which the jay, like other members of the
-crow family, is partial. While the result of stomach analysis would
-appear to belittle this fault of the blue jay, it is doubtless quite
-characteristic of the bird under favorable conditions.
-
-Complaint that the jay is the source of considerable damage to
-corn in the fall has been verified to a certain degree by stomach
-examination. This grain is taken in every month of the year, but in
-greater quantities during winter and early spring, when much of it is
-necessarily waste, and it forms about 18 per cent of the yearly food.
-Cultivated fruits of various kinds are eaten from June to the end
-of the year, and the To per cent taken in July apparently justifies
-complaints against the bird on this score. The favorite vegetable food
-of the blue jay is mast of various kinds, acorns predominating, but
-beechnuts, chestnuts, chinquapins, and hazelnuts also are relished.
-This food is important in every month but July and August, the
-yearly average being over 43 per cent, and from October to March it
-constitutes about two-thirds of the diet. Occasionally harm is done
-by feeding also on cultivated nuts, as pecans. Wild fruits are eaten
-during the summer and fall and constitute about 7 per cent of the
-yearly sustenance.
-
-The blue jay probably renders its best services to man in destroying
-grasshoppers late in the season and in feeding on hibernating insects
-and their eggs, as they do in the case of the tent caterpillar and
-brown-tail moth. Such forest insects as buprestid beetles and weevils
-of various kinds also fall as their prey.
-
-The blue jay’s vegetable food, with the exception of some cultivated
-fruit and corn in the fall, is largely neutral. The severest criticism
-against the species is the destruction of other birds and their
-eggs. Where we wish to attract the latter in large numbers about our
-dooryards, in our parks, and in game preserves, it will be well not to
-allow the jays to become too abundant.
-
-
-
-
-PACIFIC COAST JAYS.
-
-
-In California and adjacent States two species of jays are much in
-evidence under several more or less well-marked forms.
-
-The Steller jay[46] much resembles the eastern bird, but it is more shy
-and retiring and seldom visits the orchard or vicinity of the ranch
-buildings. Stomach examination shows that its food does not radically
-differ from that of the eastern blue jay. As is the case with that
-bird, a very considerable part of the food consists of mast, together
-with a little fruit and some insects. The insects are largely wasps,
-with some beetles and grasshoppers. The jay also eats some grain,
-which is probably waste or volunteer. No complaints, so far as known,
-are made against this bird. Until it shall become less wary it is not
-likely to trespass to a serious extent upon the farmer’s preserve.
-
-[46] _Cyanocitta stelleri._
-
-The California jay,[47] although of a different genus, more nearly
-resembles its eastern relative in food habits and actions. It freely
-visits the stockyards near ranch buildings, and orchards and gardens.
-As a fruit stealer it is notorious. One instance is recorded where
-seven jays were shot from a prune tree, one after the other, the dead
-bodies being left under the tree until all were killed. So eager were
-the birds to get the fruit that the report of the gun and the sight
-of their dead did not deter them from coming to the tree. In orchards
-in canyons or on hillsides adjacent to chaparral or other cover great
-mischief is done by this bird. In one such case an orchard was under
-observation at a time when the prune crop was ripening, and jays in a
-continuous stream were seen to come down a small ravine to the orchard,
-prey upon the fruit, and return.
-
-[47] _Aphelocoma californica._
-
-Fruit stealing, however, is only one of the sins of the California jay.
-That it robs hens’ nests is universal testimony. A case is reported
-of a hen having a nest under a clump of bushes; every day a jay came
-to a tree a few rods away, and when it heard the cackle of the hen
-announcing a new egg it flew at once to the nest. At the same time the
-mistress of the house hastened to the spot to secure the prize, but in
-most cases the jay won the race. This is only one of many similar cases
-recounted. The jays have learned just what the cackle of the hen means.
-Another case more serious is that related by a man engaged in raising
-white leghorn fowls on a ranch several miles up a canyon. He stated
-that when the chicks were very young the jays attacked and killed them
-by a few blows of the beak and then pecked open the skull and ate out
-the brains. In spite of all efforts to protect the chicks and kill the
-jays the losses in this way were serious.
-
-Examination of the stomachs of 326 California jays shows that 27 per
-cent of the contents for the year consists of animal matter and 73
-per cent of vegetable. Although the great bulk of the animal food
-is made up of insects, the remains of eggshells and birds’ bones
-appear much too often. The insect food is fairly well distributed
-among the more common orders, but grasshoppers are slightly the most
-numerous and constitute 4.5 per cent of the year’s food. In July,
-August, and September, however, the amount is 14, 18, and 19 per cent,
-respectively. Four per cent of the food consists of wasps, bees, etc.,
-but in the three months named they constitute 15, 7, and 9 per cent,
-respectively. A worker honeybee found in each of two stomachs is rather
-surprising, for it is unusual to find a bird like the jay eating many
-of these active and elusive insects, which enter into the diet of
-the flycatchers. The remainder of the insect food is pretty evenly
-distributed among beetles, bugs, flies, and caterpillars. Eggshells
-were found in 21 stomachs and birds’ bones in 5. Six stomachs contained
-the bones of mammals and two those of a lizard. No bird has a worse
-reputation for nest robbing than has the eastern jay, and yet of 530
-stomachs of the eastern species only 6 contained eggshells or the bones
-of birds. This comparison serves to show what a marauder and nest thief
-the California jay really is.
-
-In its vegetable diet this bird much resembles its eastern relative,
-the most remarkable difference being in the matter of fruit eating.
-With greater opportunities the California bird has developed a greater
-appetite for fruit and indulges it to the fullest extent. Remains of
-fruit were found in 220 of the 326 stomachs. The percentage for the
-year is only 16, but for the four months of June, July, August, and
-September it is 44, 33, 53, and 25, respectively. Cherries, apricots,
-and prunes are the favorites among cultivated fruits, and elderberries
-are relished to some extent. Grain, which was found in 48 stomachs,
-amounts to 6 per cent of the food of the year. Practically all of it
-was taken in the four months above mentioned, but it is not probable
-that much damage is done by the jay in this respect. The major portion
-of the grain was oats. What was not wild was probably simply scattered
-grain gleaned after the harvest. Mast is eaten by the California jay
-from September to March, inclusive, and constitutes during most of
-that period one of the principal elements of its food. In this respect
-the bird shows a remarkable similarity to the eastern species. A few
-weed seeds and other miscellaneous items make up the balance of the
-vegetable food.
-
-In summing up from an economic point of view the character of the food
-of the California jay, it must be conceded that it is not all that
-could be wished. Its taste for birds’ eggs and fruit is entirely too
-pronounced, and at present the species is superabundant in California.
-While the natural food supply of the bird has been lessened by bringing
-the woods and brushy canyons under cultivation, the same areas have
-been planted to fruit, and naturally the jay takes the fruit as an
-acceptable substitute. A considerable reduction of the bird’s numbers
-would appear to be the only effective remedy.
-
-
-
-
-THE PHŒBES.
-
-
-Among the early spring arrivals to their northern homes none is
-more welcome than the phœbe (fig. 18). The common phœbe[48] breeds
-throughout the United States east of the Great Plains, and winters from
-the South Atlantic and Gulf States southward. Its western relative, the
-black phœbe,[49] is found from Texas west to the Pacific coast, which
-it occupies as far north as Washington, replacing through most of this
-region the common or eastern form.
-
-[48] _Sayornis phœbe._
-
-[49] _Sayornis nigricans._
-
-Though naturally building its nest under an overhanging cliff of rock
-or earth, or in the mouth of a cave, the preference of the eastern
-species for the vicinity of farm buildings is so marked that in the
-more thickly settled parts of the country the bird is seldom seen at
-any great distance from a farmhouse, except where a bridge spanning
-a stream affords a secure spot for a nest. Its confiding disposition
-renders it a great favorite, and consequently it is seldom disturbed.
-
-The phœbe subsists almost exclusively upon insects, most of which are
-caught upon the wing. An examination of 370 stomachs showed that over
-89 per cent of the year’s food consists of insects and spiders, while
-wild fruit constitutes the remainder. The insects belong chiefly to
-noxious species, and include many click beetles, May beetles, and
-weevils. Other beetles, belonging to 21 families that were identified,
-make up 10.65 per cent. They appear to be eaten very regularly in every
-month, but the most are taken in spring and early summer. May is the
-month of maximum consumption, with 20.43 per cent. Beetles altogether
-amount to 15.3 per cent, which places them second in rank of the items
-of animal food. The notorious cotton-boll weevil was found in six
-stomachs taken in the cotton fields of Texas and Louisiana, and five
-individuals of the strawberry weevil were taken from one collected
-in Texas. Many other beetles contained in the stomachs are equally
-harmful, but are not so widely known. Such are the corn leaf-beetle,
-which feeds upon corn; the 12-spotted cucumber beetle and the striped
-cucumber beetle, both of which seriously injure and sometimes destroy
-cucumber and squash vines; and the locust leaf miner, which is
-sometimes so numerous that all the locust trees over large areas are
-blasted as by fire.
-
-In the phœbe’s diet hymenopterous insects stand at the head, as in
-the case with most of the flycatchers. They are eaten with great
-regularity and are the largest item in nearly every month. A few are
-useful parasitic species, but these are offset by a number of sawfly
-larvæ, which are very harmful insects. Ants were found in 24 stomachs.
-No honeybees were identified. In their season grasshoppers are much
-relished, while wasps of various forms, many flies of species that
-annoy cattle, and a few bugs and spiders are also eaten regularly. It
-is evident that a pair of phœbes must materially reduce the number of
-insects near a garden or field, as the birds often, if not always,
-raise two broods a year, and each brood numbers from four to six young.
-
-There is hardly a more useful species, about the farm than the phœbe,
-and it should receive every encouragement. To furnish nesting boxes
-is helpful, but not necessary, as it usually prefers a more open
-situation, like a shed or a nook under the eaves, but it should be
-protected from cats and other marauders.
-
-[Illustration: _Fig. 18._—Phœbe. Length, about 6½ inches.]
-
-The black phœbe has the same habits as its eastern relative, both as to
-selection of food and nesting sites, preferring for the latter purpose
-some structure of man, as a shed or, better still, a bridge over a
-stream of water, and the preference of the black phœbe for the vicinity
-of water is very pronounced. One may always be found at a stream or
-pool and often at a watering trough by the roadside.
-
-Careful study of the habits of the bird shows that it obtains a large
-portion of its food about wet places. While camping beside a stream
-in California the writer took some pains to observe the habits of the
-black phœbe. The nesting season was over, and the birds had nothing to
-do but eat. This they appeared to be doing all the time. When first
-observed in the morning, at the first glimmer of daylight, a phœbe
-was always found flitting from rock to rock, although it was so dusky
-that the bird could hardly be seen. This activity was kept up all
-day. Even in the evening, when it was so dark that notes were written
-by the aid of the camp fire, the phœbe was still engaged in its work
-of collecting, though it was difficult to understand how it could
-catch insects when there was scarcely light enough to see the bird.
-Exploration of the stream showed that every portion of it was patrolled
-by a phœbe, that each one apparently did not range over more than 12
-or 13 rods of water, and that sometimes two or three were in close
-proximity.
-
-The number of insects destroyed in a year by the black phœbe is
-enormous. Fortunately, the examination of stomachs has supplemented
-observation in the field, and we are enabled to give precise details.
-Of the 333 stomachs examined, every one contained insects as the great
-bulk of the food. Only 15 contained any vegetable food at all, and in
-no case was it a considerable part of the contents of the stomach. The
-insects eaten were mostly wasps, bugs, and flies, but many beetles also
-were destroyed.
-
-Useful beetles belonging to three families amount to 2.8 per cent of
-the food. Other beetles of harmful or neutral species reach 10.5 per
-cent. Wasps, the largest item of the food, were found in 252 stomachs
-and were the whole contents of 15. The average for the year is 35
-per cent. Parasitic species were noted, but they were very few. Ants
-were found in 48 stomachs, and for a short time in midsummer they
-constitute a notable part of the food. Various wild bees and wasps make
-up the bulk of this item. No honeybees were found.
-
-Bugs in various forms constitute 10.56 per cent and are eaten in
-every month but May. Stinkbugs appear to be the favorites, as they
-were contained in 10 stomachs. Plant lice were found in one stomach.
-Flies, forming the second largest item, were found in 97 stomachs and
-completely filled 3. They constitute the most regular article in the
-black phœbe’s diet. The maximum consumption occurs in April, 64.3 per
-cent. The black phœbe well merits its title of flycatcher.
-
-Moths and caterpillars amount to 8.2 per cent of the food. They were
-found in 72 stomachs, of which 51 contained the adult moths and 28 the
-larvæ or caterpillars. One stomach was entirely filled with adults.
-This is one of the few birds studied by the writer that eats more
-moths than caterpillars, for as a rule the caterpillars are largely in
-excess. Flycatchers, taking their food upon the wing, would naturally
-prove exceptions to the rule. Crickets are evidently not a favorite
-food of the black phœbe, as they amount to only 2.45 per cent. They
-were found in 39 stomachs, but usually the amount in each was small,
-though one stomach was entirely filled with them. Grasshoppers did not
-appear. Dragon flies were eaten to some extent, and these illustrate
-the fondness of the species for the neighborhood of water.
-
-The vegetable matter eaten consisted chiefly of small wild fruits of no
-economic importance.
-
-Another phœbe inhabiting the Western States and breeding as far north
-as Alaska is the Say phœbe.[50] Investigation of its food was based on
-the examination of 86 stomachs, and while none were available for the
-months when insects are most numerous, the bird proved to be one of
-the most exclusively insectivorous of the family. That it takes a few
-useful insects can not be denied, but these are far outnumbered by the
-harmful ones it destroys, and the balance is clearly in favor of the
-bird. Its vegetable food amounts to only 2 per cent and is made up of a
-little wild fruit, seeds, and rubbish.
-
-[50] _Sayornis sayus._
-
-
-
-
-THE KINGBIRDS.
-
-
-The well-known eastern kingbird[51] (fig. 19) is essentially a lover of
-the orchard, though groves and the edge of forests were probably its
-original habitat. It breeds in the States east of the Rocky Mountains,
-and less commonly in the Great Basin and on the Pacific coast. Its
-hostility to hawks and crows is proverbial, and for this reason a
-family of kingbirds is a desirable adjunct to a poultry yard. On one
-occasion in the knowledge of the writer a hawk which attacked a brood
-of young turkeys was pounced upon and so severely buffeted by a pair
-of kingbirds whose nest was near by that the would-be robber was glad
-to escape without his prey. Song birds that nest near the kingbird are
-similarly protected.
-
-[51] _Tyrannus tyrannus._
-
-The kingbird is largely insectivorous. It is a true flycatcher and
-takes on the wing a large part of its food. It does not, however,
-confine itself to this method of hunting, but picks up some insects
-from trees and weeds, and even descends to the ground in search of
-myriapods or thousand legs. The chief complaint against the species by
-both professional bee keepers and others has been that it preys largely
-upon honeybees. One bee raiser in Iowa, suspecting the kingbirds of
-feeding upon his bees, shot a number near his hives; but when the
-stomachs of the birds were examined by an expert entomologist, not a
-trace of honeybees could be found.
-
-An examination of 665 stomachs collected in various parts of the
-country was made by the Biological Survey, but only 22 were found to
-contain remains of honeybees. In these 22 stomachs there were in all 61
-honeybees, of which 51 were drones, 8 were certainly workers, and the
-remaining 2 were too badly broken to be further identified.
-
-The insects that constitute the great bulk of the food of the bird are
-noxious species, largely beetles—May beetles, click beetles (the larvæ
-of which are known as wire worms), weevils, which prey upon fruit and
-grain, and a host of others. Wasps, wild bees, and ants are conspicuous
-elements of the food, far outnumbering the hive bees. During summer
-many grasshoppers and crickets, as well as leaf hoppers and other
-bugs, also are eaten. In the stomachs examined were a number of robber
-flies—insects which prey largely upon other insects, especially
-honeybees, and which are known to commit in this way extensive
-depredations. It is thus evident that the kingbird by destroying these
-flies actually does good work for the apiarist. The 26 robber flies
-found in the stomachs may be considered more than an equivalent for the
-8 worker honeybees already mentioned. A few caterpillars are eaten,
-mostly belonging to the group commonly known as cutworms, all the
-species of which are harmful.
-
-About 11 per cent of the food consists of small native fruits,
-comprising some 30 common species of the roadsides and thickets, as
-dogwood berries, elderberries, and wild grapes. The kingbird is not
-reported as eating cultivated fruit to an injurious extent, and it is
-very doubtful if this is ever the case.
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 19.—Kingbird. Length, about 8½ inches.]
-
-In the Western States the Arkansas kingbird[52] is not so domestic in
-its habits as its eastern relative, preferring to live among scattering
-oaks on lonely hillsides, rather than in orchards about ranch
-buildings. The work it does, however, in the destruction of noxious
-insects fully equals that of any member of its family. Like other
-flycatchers, it subsists mostly upon insects taken in midair, though
-it eats a number of grasshoppers, probably taken from the ground. The
-bulk of its food consists of beetles, bugs, wasps, and wild bees.
-Like its eastern representative, it has been accused of feeding to an
-injurious extent upon honeybees. In an examination of 62 stomachs of
-this species, great care was take to identify every insect or fragment
-that had any resemblance to a honeybee; as a result, 30 honeybees were
-identified, of which 29 were males or drones and 1 a worker. These
-were contained in four stomachs, and were the sole contents of three;
-in the fourth they constituted 99 per cent of the food. It is evident
-that the bee-eating habit is only occasional and accidental, rather
-than habitual; and it is also evident that if this ratio of drones to
-workers were maintained, the bird would be of more benefit than harm to
-the apiary.
-
-[52] _Tyrannus verticalis._
-
-The Cassin kingbird[53] has a more southerly range than the Arkansas
-fly-catcher. Examination of a number of stomachs shows that its food
-habits are similar to those of others of the group.
-
-[53] _Tyrannus vociferans._
-
-Three points seem to be clearly established in regard to the food of
-the kingbirds—(1) that about 90 per cent consists of insects, mostly
-injurious species; (2) that the alleged habit of preying upon honeybees
-is much less prevalent than has been supposed, and probably does not
-result in any great damage; and (3) that the vegetable food consists
-almost entirely of wild fruits which have no economic value.
-
-All of the kingbirds are of the greatest importance to the farmer and
-fruit grower, as they destroy vast numbers of harmful insects, and do
-no appreciable damage to any product of cultivation.
-
-
-
-
-NIGHTHAWK.
-
-
-The nighthawk, or bull-bat[54] breeds throughout most of the United
-States and Canada, and winters in South America. It is strictly
-insectivorous, and hence does no damage to crops. The only charge that
-can be made against the bird is that it destroys some useful insects,
-but these are greatly in the minority in its food.
-
-[54] _Chordeiles virginianus._
-
-Nighthawks are so expert in flight that no insects can escape them.
-In their capacious mouths they sweep up everything from the largest
-moths and dragon flies to the tiniest ants and gnats, and in this
-way sometimes gather most remarkable collections of insects. Several
-stomachs have contained 50 or more different kinds, and the number of
-individuals ran into the thousands.
-
-Nearly a fourth of the birds’ total food is composed of ants. These
-insects are generally annoying and often very injurious, especially
-on account of their damage to stored products and because of their
-habit of fostering destructive plant lice. More than a fifth of the
-nighthawk’s food consists of June bugs, dung beetles, and other beetles
-of the leaf-chafer family. These are the adults of white grubs, noted
-pests, and even as adults many members of the family are decidedly
-harmful.
-
-Numerous other injurious beetles, as click beetles, wood borers, and
-weevils, are relished. True bugs, moths, flies, grasshoppers, and
-crickets also are Important elements of the food. Several species of
-mosquitoes, including the transmitter of malaria, are eaten. Other
-well-known pests consumed by the nighthawk are Colorado potato beetles,
-cucumber beetles, rice, clover-leaf, and cotton-boll weevils, bill
-bugs, bark beetles, squash bugs, and moths of the cotton worm.
-
-Nighthawks are much less numerous than formerly, chiefly because
-of wanton shooting. They are given full legal protection almost
-everywhere, and citizens should see that the law is obeyed. The bird is
-far too useful and attractive to be persecuted.
-
-
-
-
-THE WOODPECKERS.
-
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 20.—Hairy woodpecker. Length, about 9 inches.]
-
-Five or six species of woodpeckers are familiarly known throughout
-eastern United States, and in the West are replaced by others of
-similar habits. Several species remain in the Northern States through
-the entire year, while others are more or less migratory.
-
-Farmers are prone to look upon woodpeckers with suspicion. When the
-birds are seen scrambling over fruit trees and pecking holes in the
-bark, it is concluded that they must be doing harm. Careful observers,
-however, have noticed that, excepting a single species, these birds
-rarely leave any conspicuous mark on a healthy tree, except when it is
-affected by wood-boring larvæ, which are accurately located, dislodged,
-and devoured by the woodpecker.
-
-Two of the best-known woodpeckers, the hairy woodpecker[55] (fig.
-20) and the downy woodpecker,[56] including their races, range over
-the greater part of the United States. They differ chiefly in size,
-their colors being practically the same. The males, like those of
-many other woodpeckers, are distinguished by a scarlet patch on the
-head. An examination of many stomachs of these two species shows that
-from two-thirds to three-fourths of the food consists of insects,
-chiefly noxious kinds. Wood-boring beetles, both adults and larvæ are
-conspicuous, and with them are associated many caterpillars, mostly
-species that burrow into trees. Next in importance are the ants that
-live in decaying wood, all of which are sought by woodpeckers and eaten
-in great quantities. Many ants are particularly harmful to timber,
-for if they find a small spot of decay in the vacant burrow of a
-wood borer, they enlarge the hole, and, as their colony is always on
-the increase, continue to eat away the wood until the whole trunk is
-honeycombed. Moreover, they are not accessible to birds generally, and
-could pursue their career of destruction unmolested were it not that
-the woodpeckers, with beaks and tongues especially fitted for such
-work, dig out and devour them. It is thus evident that woodpeckers are
-great conservators of forests. To them more than to any other agency we
-owe the preservation of timber from hordes of destructive insects.
-
-[55] _Dryobates villosus._
-
-[56] _Dryobates pubescens._
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 21.—Flicker. Length, about 12½ inches. ]
-
-One of the larger woodpeckers familiar to everyone is the flicker, or
-golden-winged woodpecker[57] (fig. 21), which is generally distributed
-throughout the United States from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky
-Mountains. There it is replaced by the red-shafted flicker,[58]
-which extends westward to the Pacific. The two species are as nearly
-identical in food habits as their respective environments will allow.
-The flickers, while genuine woodpeckers, differ somewhat in habits
-from the rest of the family, and are frequently seen searching for
-food upon the ground. Like the downy and hairy woodpeckers, they feed
-upon wood-boring grubs and ants, but the number of ants eaten is much
-greater than that eaten by the other two species. Of the flickers’
-stomachs examined, three were completely filled with ants. Two of these
-contained more than 3,000 individuals each, while the third contained
-fully 5,000. These ants belong to species which live in the ground.
-It is these insects for which the flicker searches when it runs about
-in the grass, although some grasshoppers also are then taken. The
-flicker’s habit of pecking holes in buildings sometimes greatly annoys
-his human friends, and it is particularly noticeable in the California
-species. Observation has shown that the object of the work is to obtain
-shelter for the winter. In the East most of the flickers are migratory,
-and only a few remain North where shelter is necessary. These generally
-find a safe retreat in the hollow tree in which they nested. In
-California, however, where the birds do not migrate, trees are not so
-abundant as in the East, and consequently buildings are brought into
-requisition, and in them holes are drilled, usually under the eaves,
-where snug nights’ lodgings are found. Often a dozen holes may be seen
-in one building. Barns or other outbuildings are usually selected,
-though churches sometimes have been used.
-
-[57] _Colaptes auratus._
-
-[58] _Colaptes cafer collaris._
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 22.—Red-headed woodpecker. Length, about 9½ inches.]
-
-The red-headed woodpecker[59] (fig. 22), is well known east of the
-Rocky Mountains, but is rather rare in New England. Unlike some of the
-other species, it prefers fence posts and telegraph poles to trees
-as a foraging ground. Its food therefore naturally differs from that
-of the preceding species, and consists largely of adult beetles and
-wasps which it frequently captures on the wing after the fashion of
-flycatchers. Grasshoppers also form an important part of the food.
-Among the beetles are a number of predacious ground species and some
-tiger beetles, which are useful insects. The red-head has been accused
-of robbing nests of other birds, and of pecking out the brains of
-young birds and poultry; but as the stomachs showed little evidence to
-substantiate this charge, the habit probably is exceptional.
-
-[59] _Melanerpes erythrocephalus._
-
-The vegetable food of woodpeckers is varied, but consists largely of
-small fruits and berries. The downy and hairy woodpeckers eat such
-fruits as dogwood and Virginia creeper and seeds of poison ivy, sumac,
-and a few other shrubs. The flicker also eats a great many small fruits
-and the seeds of a considerable number of shrubs and weeds. None of
-the three species is much given to eating cultivated fruits or crops.
-The red-head has been accused of eating the larger kinds of fruit, as
-apples, and also of taking considerable corn. Stomach examinations show
-that to some extent these charges are substantiated, but that the habit
-is not prevalent enough to cause much damage. The bird is fond of mast,
-especially beechnuts, and when these nuts are plentiful it remains
-north all winter.
-
-Woodpeckers apparently are the only agents which can successfully cope
-with certain insect enemies of the forest, and, to some extent, with
-those of fruit trees also. For this reason, if for no other, they
-should be protected in every possible way.
-
-
-
-
-THE CUCKOOS.
-
-
-Two species of cuckoos are common in the United States east of
-the Great Plains, the yellow-billed cuckoo[60] (fig. 23) and the
-black-billed cuckoo,[61] and in the West a relative of the yellow-bill,
-the California cuckoo,[62] ranges from Colorado and Texas to the
-Pacific coast. While the two species are quite distinct, the food
-habits of the yellow-bill and the black-bill do not greatly differ and
-their economic status is practically the same.
-
-
-[60] _Coccyzus americanus._
-
-[61] _Coccyzus erythropthalmus._
-
-[62] _Coccyzus americanus occidentalis._
-
-[Illustration: Fig. 23.—Yellow-billed cuckoo. Length, about 12 inches.]
-
-Examination of 155 stomachs has shown that these species are much given
-to eating caterpillars, and, unlike most birds, do not reject those
-covered with hair. In fact, cuckoos eat so many hairy caterpillars that
-the hairs pierce the inner lining of the stomach and remain there, so
-that when the stomach is opened it appears to be lined with a thin
-coating of fur.
-
-An examination of the stomachs of 46 black-billed cuckoos, taken during
-the summer months, showed the remains of 906 caterpillars, 44 beetles,
-96 grasshoppers, 100 sawflies, 30 stinkbugs, and 15 spiders. In all
-probability more individuals than these were represented, but their
-remains were too badly broken for recognition. Most of the caterpillars
-were hairy, and many of them belong to a genus that lives in colonies
-and feeds on the leaves of trees, including the apple tree. One stomach
-was filled with larvæ of a caterpillar belonging to the same genus
-as the tent caterpillar, and possibly to that species. Other larvæ
-were those of large moths, for which the bird seems to have a special
-fondness. The beetles were for the most part click beetles and weevils,
-including a few May beetles. The sawflies were contained in two
-stomachs, one of which held no less than 60 in the larval stage.
-
-Of the yellow-billed cuckoo, 109 stomachs (collected from May to
-October) were examined. They contained 1,865 caterpillars, 93 beetles,
-242 grasshoppers, 37 sawflies, 69 bugs, 6 flies, and 86 spiders. As in
-the case of the black-billed cuckoo, most of the caterpillars belonged
-to hairy species and many of them were of large size. One stomach
-contained 250 American tent caterpillars; another 217 fall webworms.
-The beetles were distributed among several families, all more or
-less harmful to agriculture. In the same stomach which contained the
-tent caterpillars were 2 Colorado potato beetles; in another were 3
-goldsmith beetles, and remains of several other large beetles. Besides
-the ordinary grasshoppers were several katydids and tree crickets. The
-sawflies were in the larval stage, in which they resemble caterpillars
-so closely that they are commonly called false caterpillars by
-entomologists. The bugs consisted of stinkbugs and cicadas, or dog-day
-harvest flies, with the single exception of one wheel bug, which was
-the only useful insect eaten.
-
-
-WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1915
-
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber Note
-
-
-Illustrations moved to prevent splitting paragraphs.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 630 (1915
-edition), by F. E. Beal
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USDA FARMERS' BULLETIN NO. 630 (1915) ***
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-      USDA Farmers' Bulletin 630: Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer, by Henry W. Henshaw, a Project Gutenberg eBook.
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 630 (1915
-edition), by F. E. Beal
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 630 (1915 edition)
-       Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer
-
-Author: F. E. Beal
-
-Release Date: July 19, 2020 [EBook #62696]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK USDA FARMERS' BULLETIN NO. 630 (1915) ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Tom Cosmas
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<div class="fig_center" style="width: 266px;">
-<img src="images/cover.png" width="266" height="460" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">� 1 �</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="fig_center" style="border: double #000 5px; width: 530px; padding: 12px;">
-<img src="images/title_banner.png" width="530" height="171" alt="" />
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<h1>SOME COMMON BIRDS<br />USEFUL TO THE FARMER.</h1>
-
-<h2 class="pmb2">By <span class="smcap">F. E. L. Beal</span>, <i>Assistant Biologist</i>.</h2>
-
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p class="p0"><span class="smcap">Note.</span>&#8212;The habitat, food habits, and economic relation to agriculture of more than 50
-birds common to farming sections are discussed in this bulletin. It supersedes Farmers&#8217;
-Bulletin 54.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center smaller pmt2 pmb2">U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Farmers&#8217; Bulletin 630<br />
-<br />
-Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey, Henry W. Henshaw, Chief.<br />
-February 13, 1915.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</a></h2>
-
-<table class="tblcont" style="width: 450px;" summary="TOC">
-<tr>
-  <td></td>
-  <td class="smaller tdr">Page.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The bluebirds</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_BLUEBIRDS">2</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The robins</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_ROBINS">3</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The titmice</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_TITMICE">4</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The wrens</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_WRENS">6</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Brown thrasher</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#BROWN_THRASHER">7</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Catbird</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CATBIRD">7</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The swallows</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_SWALLOWS">8</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Towhee</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#TOWHEE">9</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The sparrows</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_SPARROWS">9</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">House finch</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#HOUSE_FINCH">11</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The grackles</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_GRACKLES">12</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Brewer blackbird</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#BREWER_BLACKBIRD">12</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Baltimore oriole</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#BALTIMORE_ORIOLE">13</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Bullock oriole</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#BULLOCK_ORIOLE">14</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The meadowlarks</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_MEADOWLARKS">14</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The red-winged blackbirds</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_RED-WINGED_BLACKBIRDS">15</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Bobolink</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#BOBOLINK">17</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Crow</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CROW">17</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Blue jay</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#BLUE_JAY">19</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Pacific coast jays</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#PACIFIC_COAST_JAYS">20</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The ph&#339;bes</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_PHOEBES">21</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The kingbirds</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_KINGBIRDS">23</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">Nighthawk</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#NIGHTHAWK">24</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The woodpeckers</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_WOODPECKERS">25</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td class="tdl">The cuckoos</td>
-  <td class="tdr"><a href="#THE_CUCKOOS">27</a></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>Whether a bird is beneficial or injurious depends almost entirely upon what
-it eats. In the case of species which are very abundant, or which feed to some
-extent on the crops of the farmer, the question of their average diet becomes
-one of supreme importance, and only by stomach examination can it be satisfactorily
-solved. Field observations are at best but fragmentary and inconclusive
-and lead to no final results. Birds are often accused of eating this or
-that product of cultivation, when an examination of the stomachs shows the
-accusation to be unfounded. Accordingly, the Biological Survey has conducted
-for some years past a systematic investigation of the food of those species which
-are most common about the farm and garden.</p>
-
-<p>Within certain limits birds eat the kind of food that is most accessible, especially
-when their natural food is scarce or wanting. Thus they sometimes injure
-the crops of the farmer who has unintentionally destroyed their natural food
-in his improvement of swamp or pasture. Most of the damage done by birds
-and complained of by farmers and fruit growers arises from this very cause.
-The berry-bearing shrubs and seed-bearing weeds have been cleared away, and
-the birds have no recourse but to attack the cultivated grain or fruit which have
-replaced their natural food supply. The great majority of land birds subsist
-upon insects during the period of nesting and moulting, and also feed their
-young upon them during the first few weeks. Many species live almost entirely
-upon insects, taking vegetable food only when other subsistence fails. It is
-thus evident that in the course of a year birds destroy an incalculable number
-of insects, and it is difficult to overestimate the value of their services in restraining
-the great tide of insect life.</p>
-
-<p>In winter, in the northern part of the country, insects become scarce or
-entirely disappear. Many species of birds, however, remain during the cold
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">� 2 �</a></span>
-season and are able to maintain bike by eating vegetable food, as the seeds of
-weeds. Here again is another useful function of birds in destroying these weed
-seeds and thereby lessening the growth of the next year.</p>
-
-<p>In the following pages are discussed the food habits of more than 50 birds
-belonging to 12 families. Many are eastern forms which are represented in
-the West by slightly different species or subspecies, but unless the food habits
-differ they are not separately described. In some cases specific percentages of
-food are given, but for the most part the statements are made without direct
-reference to the data on which they are based.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Farmers&#8217; Bulletins describing the food habits of wild birds and groups of birds, or
-presenting methods of attracting them about our homes have been issued as follows:
-</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>&nbsp;54. Some Common Birds in their Relation to Agriculture, by F. E. L.
-  Beal, 1897. The present bulletin is largely a revision of this
-  bulletin and supersedes it.</p>
-
-<p>383. How to Destroy English Sparrows, by Ned Dearborn, 1910. This
-  bulletin has been superseded by Farmers&#8217; Bulletin 493.</p>
-
-<p>450. Our Grosbeaks and Their Relation to Agriculture, by W. L.
-  McAtee, 1911.</p>
-
-<p>493. The English Sparrow as a Pest, by Ned Dearborn, 1912.</p>
-
-<p>497. Some Common Game, Aquatic, and Rapacious Birds in Relation to
-  Man, by W. L. McAtee and F. E. L. Beal, 1912.</p>
-
-<p>506. Food of Some Well-known Birds of Forest, Farm, and Garden, by
-  F. E. L. Beal and W. L. McAtee, 1912.</p>
-
-<p>513. Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard, prepared under the
-  direction of Henry W. Henshaw, 1913. This bulletin was issued
-  with illustrations in color, and the demand for it was so
-  enormous that it is no longer available for free distribution.
-  Copies may be had for 15 cents (postage stamps not accepted) of
-  the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office.</p>
-
-<p>609. Bird Houses and How to Build Them, by Ned Dearborn, 1914.</p>
-
-<p>621. How to Attract Birds in Northeastern United States, by W. L.
-  McAtee, 1914.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>The parts of this bulletin relating to the crow and blue jay were contributed
-by E. R. Kalmbach, and the discussion of the nighthawk is by W. L. McAtee,
-both of the Bureau of Biological Survey.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_BLUEBIRDS" id="THE_BLUEBIRDS">THE BLUEBIRDS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 286px;">
-<a id="fig1"></a><img src="images/fig1.png" width="286" height="244" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 1.</span>&#8212;Bluebird. Length, about 6&frac12; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The eastern bluebird<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (<a href="#fig1">fig. 1</a>), one of the most familiar and welcome of our
-feathered visitors, is a common inhabitant of all the States east of the Rocky
-Mountains from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Canada. In the Mississippi
-Valley it winters as far north as southern Illinois, and in the East as far as
-Pennsylvania. It is one of the earliest northern migrants, and everywhere is
-hailed as a harbinger of spring. Very domestic in habits, it frequents orchards
-and gardens, and builds its nests in
-cavities of trees, crannies in farm
-buildings, or boxes provided for its
-use.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Sialia sialis.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The bluebird has not been accused,
-so far as known, of stealing
-fruit or of preying upon crops. An
-examination of 855 stomachs showed
-that 68 per cent of the food consists
-of insects and their allies, while the
-other 32 per cent is made up of
-various vegetable substances, found
-mostly in stomachs taken in winter.
-Beetles constitute 21 per cent of the
-whole food, grasshoppers 22, caterpillars 10, and various other insects
-9, while a number of spiders and
-myriapods, about 6 per cent, comprise
-the remainder of the animal
-diet. All these are more or less
-harmful, except a few predacious beetles, which amount to 9 per cent. In view
-of the large consumption of grasshoppers and caterpillars we may at least condone
-this offense, if such it may be called. The destruction of grasshoppers is
-very noticeable in August and September, when these insects make up about 53
-per cent of the diet.</p>
-
-<p>It is evident that in the selection of its food the bluebird is governed more
-by abundance than by choice. Predacious beetles are eaten in spring, as they
-are among the first insects to appear; but in early summer caterpillars form an
-important part of the diet, and these are later replaced by grasshoppers. Beetles
-are eaten at all times, except when grasshoppers are more easily obtained.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">� 3 �</a></span></p>
-
-<p>So far as its vegetable food is concerned the bluebird is positively harmless.
-The only trace of any useful product in the stomachs consisted of a few blackberry
-seeds, and even these probably belonged to wild rather than cultivated
-varieties. Following is a list of the various seeds which were found: Blackberry,
-chokeberry, juniperberry, pokeberry, partridgeberry, greenbrier, Virginia
-creeper, bittersweet, holly, strawberry bush, false spikenard, wild sarsaparilla,
-sumac (several species), rose haws, sorrel, ragweed, grass, and asparagus. This
-list shows how little the bluebird depends upon the farm or garden to supply
-its needs and how easily, by encouraging the growth of some of these plants,
-many of which are highly ornamental, the bird may be induced to make its
-home on the premises.</p>
-
-<p>Two species of bluebirds inhabit the Western States&#8212;the mountain bluebird<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
-and the western bluebird.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> In their food habits they are even more to be commended
-than their eastern relative. Their insect food is obtainable at all
-times of the year, and the general diet varies only in the fall, when some fruit,
-principally elderberries, is eaten, though an occasional blackberry or grape is
-also relished. In an examination of 217 stomachs of the western bluebird, animal
-matter (insects and spiders) was found to the extent of 82 per cent and
-vegetable matter to the extent of 18 per cent. The bulk of the former consists
-of bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. Grasshoppers, when they can be obtained,
-are eaten freely during the whole season. Caterpillars also are a
-favorite food and are eaten during every month of the year; March is the month
-of greatest consumption, with 50 per cent, and the average for the year is 20
-per cent. Two stomachs taken in January contained 64 and 50 per cent, respectively,
-of caterpillars. Beetles also
-are eaten and comprise mostly
-harmful species.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Sialia currucoides.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Sialia mexicana subspecies.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The vegetable matter consists of
-weed seeds and small fruits. In December
-a few grapes are eaten, but
-elderberries are the favorites whenever
-they can be found. It is only
-when these are in their greatest
-abundance that vegetable exceeds
-animal food.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_ROBINS" id="THE_ROBINS">THE ROBINS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 287px;">
-<a id="fig2"></a><img src="images/fig2.png" width="287" height="181" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 2.</span>&#8212;Robin. Length, about 10 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The robin<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> (<a href="#fig2">fig. 2</a>), in many parts
-of the country one of the most cherished
-of our birds, is found throughout the States east of the Great Plains,
-and is represented farther west and south by slightly different subspecies.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>,<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> It
-breeds far north through Canada, and is found even in Alaska. Although the
-great bulk of the species leaves the Northern States in winter, a few individuals
-remain in sheltered swamps, where wild berries furnish abundant food. The
-robin is an omnivorous feeder and its food habits have sometimes caused apprehension
-to the fruit grower, for it is fond of cherries and other small fruits,
-particularly the earlier varieties. For this reason many complaints have been
-lodged against the bird, and some persons have even gone so far as to condemn
-it. It is, however, far too valuable to be exterminated, and choice fruit can be
-readily protected from its depredations.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Planesticus migratorius.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Planesticus migratorius propinquus.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Planesticus migratorius achrusterus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Examinations of 1,236 stomachs show that 42 per cent of its food is animal
-matter, principally insects, while the remainder is made up largely of small
-fruits or berries. Over 16 per cent consists of beetles, about one-third of which
-are useful ground beetles, taken mostly in spring and fall when other insects
-are scarce. Grasshoppers make up about 5 per cent of the whole food, but in
-August they comprise 17 per cent. Caterpillars form about 9 per cent, while
-the rest of the animal food, about 11 per cent, is made up of various insects,
-with a few spiders, snails, and angleworms. All the grasshoppers, caterpillars,
-and bugs, with a large portion of the beetles, are injurious, and it is safe to
-say that noxious insects comprise more than one-third of the robin&#8217;s food.</p>
-
-<p>Vegetable food forms 58 per cent of the stomach contents, over 42 per cent
-being wild fruits and only a little more than 8 per cent being possibly cultivated
-varieties. Cultivated fruit amounting to about 25 per cent was found in
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">� 4 �</a></span>
-the stomachs in June and July, but only a trifle in August. Wild fruit, on the
-contrary, is eaten every month and constitutes a staple food during half the
-year. No less than 65 species of fruit were identified in the stomachs; of these,
-the most important were 4 species of dogwood, 3 of wild cherries, 3 of wild
-grapes, 4 of greenbrier, 2 of holly, 2 of elder; and cranberries, huckleberries,
-blueberries, barberries, service berries, hackberries, and persimmons; together
-with 4 species of sumac and various other seeds not strictly fruit.</p>
-
-<p>The depredations of the robin seem to be confined to the smaller and earlier
-fruits, few, if any, complaints being made that it eats apples, peaches, pears,
-grapes, or even late cherries. By the time these are ripe the forests and hedges
-are teeming with wild fruits which the bird evidently finds more to its taste.
-The cherry, unfortunately for man, ripens so early that it is almost the only
-fruit accessible at a time when the bird&#8217;s appetite has been sharpened by a
-long-continued diet of insects, earthworms, and dried berries, and it is no
-wonder that at first the rich juicy morsels are greedily eaten.</p>
-
-<p>While the robin takes some cultivated fruits, it must be remembered that,
-being a natural enemy of the insect world, it has been working during the
-whole season to make that crop a possibility, and when the fruit ripens the
-robin already has a standing account with the farmer for services rendered,
-with the credits up to this time entirely on his side.</p>
-
-<p>Since the robin takes ten times as much wild as cultivated fruit, it seems
-unwise to destroy the birds to save so little. Nor is this necessary, for with
-care both birds and fruit may be preserved. Where much fruit is grown it is
-no great loss to give up one tree to the birds, and in some cases the crop can
-be protected by scarecrows. Where wild fruit is not abundant, a few fruit-bearing
-shrubs and vines judiciously planted will serve for ornament and
-provide food for the birds. The Russian mulberry is a vigorous grower and a
-profuse bearer, ripening at the same time as the cherry. So far as observation
-has gone, most birds seem to prefer its fruit to any other. It is believed that
-a number of mulberry trees planted around the garden or orchard would fully
-protect the more valuable fruits.</p>
-
-<p>Much has been written about the delicate discrimination of birds for choice
-fruit and their selection of only the finest and costliest varieties. This is contrary
-to observed facts. Birds, unlike human beings, seem to prefer fruit that,
-like the mulberry, is sweetly insipid, or that, like the chokecherry or holly,
-has some astringent or bitter quality. The so-called black alder, a species of
-holly, has bright scarlet berries tasting as bitter as quinine, that ripen late in
-October and remain on the bushes through November. Though frost grapes,
-the fruit of the Virginia creeper, and several species of dogwood are abundant
-at the same time, the birds have been found to eat the berries of the holly to
-a considerable extent. It is, moreover, a remarkable fact that the wild fruits
-upon which birds largely feed are those which man neither gathers for his
-own use nor adopts for cultivation.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_TITMICE" id="THE_TITMICE">THE TITMICE.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>Birds of the titmouse family, though insignificant in size, are far from being
-so in the matter of food habits. What they lack in size of body they more than
-make up in numbers of individuals. While in the case of some larger birds, as,
-for instance, the flicker, there is one pair of eyes to look for food for one large
-stomach, we have in the case of the ten times as numerous titmice an equivalent
-stomach capacity divided into 10 parts, each furnished with a pair of eyes and
-other accessories, as wings and feet. As against the one place occupied by the
-larger bird, 10 are being searched for food at the same time by the smaller
-species.</p>
-
-<p>The character of the food of titmice gives a peculiar value to their services,
-for it consists largely of the small insects and their eggs that wholly escape
-the search of larger birds. Throughout the year most of the species of this
-group remain on their range, so that they are constantly engaged in their beneficial
-work, continuing it in winter when the majority of their co-workers have
-sought a milder clime. It is at this season that the titmice do their greatest
-good, for when flying and crawling insects are no more to be found, the birds
-must feed upon such species as they find hibernating in crevices, or upon the
-eggs of insects laid in similar places. In winter&#8217;s dearth of moving insects
-the search for such animal food as may be found is perforce thorough and
-unremitting.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">� 5 �</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Within the boundaries of the United States are some 17 species of titmice,
-with nearly as many races or subspecies, so that there is no portion of the
-country lacking one or more forms. The western coast region is peculiarly rich
-in representatives of the family. In the eastern portion of the country the
-best-known and most widely distributed species is the common black-capped
-chickadee<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> (<a href="#fig3">fig. 3</a>). This bird, or some of its subspecies, occupies the whole of
-that part of the United States north of the latitude of Washington and extends
-into Canada. It is a prolific breeder, usually rearing from six to eight young
-in a brood.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Penthestes atricapillus.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 275px;">
-<a id="fig3"></a><img src="images/fig3.png" width="275" height="302" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 3.</span>&#8212;Black-capped chickadee. Length,
-about 5&frac14; inches</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Examination of 289 stomachs of this chickadee shows that its food consists of
-68 per cent animal matter (insects) and 32 per cent vegetable matter. The
-former is made up of small caterpillars and moths and their eggs. Prominent
-among the latter are the eggs of the tent-caterpillar moths, both the orchard
-and forest species. As these are two of our most destructive insects, the good
-done by the chickadee in devouring their eggs needs no comment. During the
-winter the chickadee&#8217;s food is made up of larv�, chrysalids, and eggs of moths,
-varied by a few seeds, but as spring brings out hordes of flying, crawling, and
-jumping insects, the bird varies its diet by taking also some of these. Flies and
-bugs are the favorites until the weather becomes quite warm, when beetles and
-small wasps also are enjoyed. Among the bugs may be mentioned the plant
-lice and their eggs which are eaten
-in winter. The beetles nearly all belong
-to the group of snout beetles,
-more commonly known as weevils.
-These insects are mostly of small
-size, and nearly all are known to the
-farmer or fruit raiser as pests. Seventeen
-of them were found in one
-stomach. The plum curculio and the
-cotton-boll weevil may be taken as
-fair examples. Grasshoppers do not
-at any time constitute an important
-element of the food of the chickadee,
-as they are too large for so small a
-bird; moreover they are for the most
-part terrestrial insects, while the
-bird is essentially arboreal. Small
-wasps and ants are eaten to some
-extent. Spiders constitute an important
-element of the food and are
-eaten at all times of the year, the
-birds locating them when they are
-hibernating in winter, as well as
-when they are active in summer.
-The vegetable food of the chickadee
-consists largely of small seeds except
-in summer when they are replaced by pulp of wild fruit. The wax from the
-seeds of poison ivy is eaten during the winter months, but the seeds themselves
-are not taken. In this respect the chickadee differs from most other birds
-which swallow the seeds whole; these, after digesting the wax, pass the seeds
-through the alimentary canal, and so scatter them broadcast to reproduce the
-noxious plants.</p>
-
-<p>In the southern part of the country the Carolina chickadee<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and the tufted tit<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
-replace the black-cap, but their food habits are so similar that there is practically
-no difference in the work done. In the West several other species occur;
-one of the most interesting is the bush tit<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> which, with several subspecies,
-occupies the whole Pacific coast region. They are active, social little creatures,
-and except for a short time during the breeding season are found in flocks, flitting
-from tree to tree, busily hunting for insects and their eggs The contents
-of 66 stomachs of these birds were found to consist mostly of injurious insects
-to the extent of 83 per cent. Of these the most important was a small hemipterous
-insect which amounted to more than half of the stomach contents. These
-insects are of considerable economic importance, as they frequently infest grapevines
-and other plants to a harmful extent. Several stomachs were almost
-exclusively filled with these minute creatures, some containing as many as 100
-individuals.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Penthestes carolinensis.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>B�olophus bicolor.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Psaltriparus minimus.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">� 6 �</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Perhaps the most important and interesting insect found was the black olive
-scale, which occurred in 24 stomachs and amounted to a little more than 18
-per cent of the food. In addition a number of the stomachs were more or less
-filled with another scale, which was not further identified. A number of small
-snout beetles (weevils) were eaten and some small caterpillars; there were also
-the remains of a spider.</p>
-
-<p>The vegetable food of the species seemed to consist mostly of seeds, but they
-were so broken up as to defy recognition. A little fruit pulp and a little mast
-were also found.</p>
-
-<p>Among the stomachs of the bush tits examined were those of one brood of
-eight nestlings about 10 days old. The vegetable matter in these stomachs was
-only three-fourths of 1 per cent and consisted of one seed and some rubbish.
-The animal matter was made up of beetles, wasps, bugs, caterpillars and pup�,
-and spiders. The greatest interest lies in the fact that every one of these stomachs
-contained pup� of the codling moth, on an average of over five to each.
-The oak tree in which these birds were found was in a belt of timber near a
-neglected orchard which the parent birds used as a foraging ground, and they
-did their best to remedy the neglect of the owner. As feeding and digestion
-in the case of nestling birds is almost continuous during the hours of daylight,
-the above record would be several times repeated during a day&#8217;s feeding.
-There were probably not less than
-a dozen nests of the bush tit along
-the border of this orchard, and
-these birds must have exerted a
-great restrictive influence upon the
-increase of the codling moth, as
-well as of other insects in that
-vicinity.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_WRENS" id="THE_WRENS">THE WRENS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 282px;">
-<a id="fig4"></a><img src="images/fig4.png" width="282" height="245" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 4.</span>&#8212;House wren. Length, about 4&frac34; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The diminutive house wren<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> (<a href="#fig4">fig. 4</a>) frequents barns and gardens,
-and particularly old orchards in
-which the trees are partially decayed. He makes his nest in a
-hollow where perhaps a woodpecker had a domicile the year
-before, but he is a pugnacious character,
-and if he happens to fancy
-one of the boxes put up for bluebirds,
-he does not hesitate to take it. He is usually not slow to avail himself
-of boxes, gourds, tin cans, or empty jars placed for his accommodation.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Troglodytes a�don.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>In food habits the house wren is entirely beneficial. He may be said to
-live upon animal food alone, for an examination of 88 stomachs showed that
-98 per cent of the contents was made up of insects or their allies, and only 2
-per cent was vegetable food, including bits of grass and similar matter,
-evidently taken by accident with the insects. Half of this food consisted of
-grasshoppers and beetles; the remainder of caterpillars, bugs, and spiders.
-As the wren is a prolific breeder, frequently rearing in a season from 12 to 16
-young, a family of these birds must cause considerable reduction in the number
-of insects in a garden. Wrens are industrious foragers, searching every tree,
-shrub, and vine for caterpillars, and examining every post and rail of the fence
-and every cranny in the wall for insects or spiders.</p>
-
-<p>The house wren is only one of a numerous group of small birds of similar
-habits. There are within the limits of the United States 28 species and subspecies
-of wrens, occupying more or less completely the whole country from
-the Atlantic to the Pacific. With the exception of the marsh wrens,<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> they all
-appear to prefer some cosy nook for a nesting site, and, as it happens, the
-farm buildings afford just the place desired. This has led several of the wrens
-to seek out the habitations of man, and he is benefited by their destruction of
-noxious insects. No species of wren has been accused of harm, and their
-presence should be encouraged about every farm, ranch, village, or suburban
-residence.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Telmatodytes palustris.</i></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">� 7 �</a></span></p></div>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="BROWN_THRASHER" id="BROWN_THRASHER">BROWN THRASHER.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 274px;">
-<a id="fig5"></a><img src="images/fig5.png" width="274" height="193" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 5.</span>&#8212;Brown thrasher. Length, about 11
-inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The brown thrasher<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> (<a href="#fig5">fig. 5</a>) breeds throughout the United States east of the
-Great Plains, and winters in the South Atlantic and Gulf States. It occasionally
-visits the garden or orchard, but nests in swamps or in groves standing
-upon low ground. The thrasher&#8217;s
-favorite time for singing is in early
-morning, when, perched on the top
-of a tall bush or low tree, it gives
-an exhibition of vocal powers which
-would do credit to a mocking bird.
-Indeed, in the South, where the latter
-bird is abundant, the thrasher is
-known as the sandy mocker.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Toxostoma rufum.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The food of the brown thrasher
-consists of both fruit and insects.
-An examination of 636 stomachs
-showed 36 per cent of vegetable and
-64 of animal food, practically all
-insects, and mostly taken in spring
-before fruit was ripe. Half the insects
-were beetles and the remainder
-chiefly grasshoppers, caterpillars,
-bugs, and spiders. A few predacious beetles were eaten, but on the whole the
-work of the species as an insect destroyer may be considered beneficial.</p>
-
-<p>Eight per cent of its food is made up of fruits like raspberries and currants
-which are or may be cultivated, but the raspberries at least are as likely to
-belong to wild as to cultivated varieties. Grain, made up mostly of scattered
-kernels of oats and corn, is merely a trifle, amounting to only 3 per cent.
-Though some of the corn may be taken from newly planted fields, it is amply
-paid for by the destruction of May beetles which are eaten at the same time.
-The rest of the food consists of wild fruit or seeds. Taken all in all, the brown
-thrasher is a useful bird, and probably
-does as good work in its secluded
-retreats as it would about the
-garden, for the swamps and groves
-are no doubt the breeding grounds
-of many insects that migrate thence
-to attack the crops of the farmer.</p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a id="CATBIRD"></a>CATBIRD.</h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 284px;">
-<a id="fig6"></a><img src="images/fig6.png" width="284" height="232" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 6.</span>&#8212;Catbird. Length, about 9 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The catbird<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> (<a href="#fig6">fig. 6</a>), like the
-thrasher, is a lover of swamps and
-delights to make its home in a tangle
-of wild grapevines, greenbriers, and
-shrubs, where it is safe from attack
-and can find its favorite food in
-abundance. It is found throughout
-the United States west to the Rocky
-Mountains, and extends also from
-Washington, Idaho, and Utah northward
-into the provinces of Canada. It winters in the Southern States, Cuba,
-Mexico, and Central America.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Dumetella carolinensis.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Reports from the Mississippi Valley indicate that the catbird is sometimes a
-serious annoyance to fruit growers. The reason for such reports may possibly
-be found in the fact that on the prairies fruit-bearing shrubs, which afford so
-large a part of this bird&#8217;s food, are conspicuously absent. With the settlement
-of this region comes an extensive planting of orchards, vineyards, and small-fruit
-gardens, which furnish shelter and nesting sites for the catbird as well
-as for other species. There is in consequence a large increase in the numbers
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">� 8 �</a></span>
-of the birds, but no corresponding gain in the supply of native fruits upon
-which they were accustomed to feed. Under these circumstances what is more
-natural than for the birds to turn to cultivated fruits for their food? The
-remedy is obvious: Cultivated fruits can be protected by the simple expedient
-of planting the wild species which are preferred by the birds. Some experiments
-with catbirds in captivity show that the Russian mulberry is preferred to any
-cultivated fruit.</p>
-
-<p>The stomachs of 645 catbirds were examined and found to contain 44 per
-cent of animal (insect) and 58 per cent of vegetable food. Ants, beetles, caterpillars,
-and grasshoppers constitute three-fourths of the animal food, the remainder
-being made up of bugs, miscellaneous insects, and spiders. One-third
-of the vegetable food consists of cultivated fruits, or those which may be
-cultivated, as strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries; but while we debit
-the bird with the whole of this, it is probable&#8212;and in the eastern and well-wooded
-part of the country almost certain&#8212;that a large part is obtained from
-wild vines. The rest of the vegetable matter is mostly wild fruit, as
-cherries, dogwood, sour gum, elderberries, greenbrier, spiceberries, black alder,
-sumac, and poison ivy. Although the catbird sometimes does considerable
-harm by destroying small fruit, it can not on the whole be considered injurious.
-On the contrary, in most parts of
-the country it does far more good
-than harm.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_SWALLOWS" id="THE_SWALLOWS">THE SWALLOWS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 274px;">
-<a id="fig7"></a><img src="images/fig7.png" width="274" height="292" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 7.</span>&#8212;Barn swallow. Length, about 7 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Seven common species of swallows
-are found within the limits of
-the United States, four of which
-have abandoned to some extent
-their primitive nesting habits and
-have attached themselves to the
-abodes of man.</p>
-
-<p>In the eastern part of the country
-the barn swallow<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> (<a href="#fig7">fig. 7</a>) now
-builds exclusively under roofs, having
-entirely abandoned the rock
-caves and cliffs in which it formerly
-nested. More recently the cliff
-swallow<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> has found a better nesting
-site under the eaves of buildings
-than was afforded by the overhanging
-cliffs of earth or stone which it
-once used and to which it still
-resorts occasionally in the East and
-habitually in the unsettled West. The martin<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and the white-bellied, or tree,
-swallow<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> nest either in houses supplied for the purpose, in abandoned nests of
-woodpeckers, or in natural crannies in rocks. The northern violet-green swallow,<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>
-the rough-winged swallow,<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> and the bank swallow<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> still live in practically
-such places as their ancestors chose.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Hirundo erythrogastra.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Petrochelidon lunifrons.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Progne subis.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Iridoprocne bicolor.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Tachycineta thalassina.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Stelgidopteryx serripennis.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Riparia riparia.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Field observation convinces an ordinarily attentive person that the food of
-swallows must consist of the smaller insects captured in mid-air or picked from
-the tops of tall grass or weeds. This observation is borne out by an examination
-of stomachs, which shows that the food is made up of many small species
-of beetles which are much on the wing; many species of mosquitoes and their
-allies, together with large quantities of flying ants; and a few insects of similar
-kinds. Most of these are either injurious or annoying, and the numbers destroyed
-by swallows are not only beyond calculation but almost beyond imagination.</p>
-
-<p>Unlike many other groups of birds, the six species of swallows found in the
-Eastern States extend in a practically unchanged form across the continent,
-where they are reinforced by the northern, or Pacific-coast, violet-green swallow.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">� 9 �</a></span></p>
-
-<p>It is a mistake to tear down from the eaves of a barn the nests of a colony of
-cliff swallows, for so far from disfiguring a building they make a picturesque
-addition to it, and the presence of swallows should be encouraged by every
-device. It is said that cliff and barn swallows may be induced to build their
-nests in a particular locality, otherwise suitable, by providing a quantity of
-mud to be used by them as mortar. Barn swallows may also be encouraged by
-cutting a small hole in the gable of the barn, while martins and white-bellied
-swallows will be grateful for boxes like those for the bluebird, but placed in a
-higher situation.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="TOWHEE" id="TOWHEE">TOWHEE.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 292px;">
-<a id="fig8"></a><img src="images/fig8.png" width="292" height="181" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 8.</span>&#8212;Towhee. Length, about 8 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The towhee, chewink, or ground robin<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> (<a href="#fig8">fig. 8</a>), as it is variously known,
-inhabits nearly the whole of the United States east of the Great Plains. It
-breeds from the Middle States northward and winters in the southern half of
-the country. Naturally associated with the catbird and brown thrasher, it
-lives in much the same places, though it is more given to haunting hedgerows
-along roads and fences. After snow has disappeared in early spring an investigation
-of the rustling so often
-heard among the leaves near a
-fence or in a thicket will frequently
-disclose a towhee hard at
-work scratching for his dinner
-after the manner of a hen; and in
-these places and along the sunny
-border of woods old leaves will be
-found overturned where the bird
-has been searching for hibernating
-beetles and larv�. The good
-which the towhee does in this
-way can hardly be overestimated,
-since the death of a single insect
-at this time, before it has had
-an opportunity to deposit its eggs,
-is equivalent to the destruction of
-a host later in the year. The towhee has also been credited with visiting potato
-fields and feeding upon the potato beetle. Its vegetable food consists of seeds
-and small wild fruits, but no complaint on this score is known to have been
-made. So far as observation goes, the bird never touches either cultivated fruit
-or grain; in fact, it is too shy and retiring even to stay about gardens for any
-length of time.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Pipilo erythrophthalmus.</i></p></div>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="THE_SPARROWS" id="THE_SPARROWS"></a>THE SPARROWS.<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></h2>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The sparrows here mentioned are all native species. A full account of the English,
-or house, sparrow (<i>Passer domesticus</i>), including its introduction, habits, and depredations,
-was published in Bul. No. 1 of the Division of Ornithology in 1889. For information
-in regard to combating the English sparrow, see Farmers&#8217; Bulletin 493, The English
-Sparrow as a Pest, by Ned Dearborn, 1912.</p></div>
-
-
-<p>Sparrows are not obtrusive birds, either in plumage, song, or action. There
-are some 40 species, with nearly as many subspecies, in North America. Not
-more than half a dozen forms are generally known in any one locality. All the
-species are more or less migratory, but so widely are they distributed that there is
-probably no part of the country where some can not be found throughout the year.</p>
-
-<p>While sparrows are noted seed eaters, they do not by any means confine
-themselves to a vegetable diet. During the summer, and especially in the
-breeding season, they eat many insects and feed their young largely upon the
-same food. Examination of stomachs of three species&#8212;the song sparrow<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>
-(<a href="#fig9">fig. 9</a>), chipping sparrow,<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> and field sparrow<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> (<a href="#fig10">fig. 10</a>)&#8212;shows that about one-third
-of the food consists of insects, comprising many injurious beetles, as
-snout beetles or weevils, and leaf beetles. Many grasshoppers are eaten. In
-the case of the chipping sparrow these insects form one-eighth of the food.
-Grasshoppers would seem to be rather large morsels, but the bird probably
-confines itself to the smaller species; indeed, the greatest amount (over 36 per
-cent) is eaten in June, when the larger species are still young and the smaller
-most numerous. Besides the insects already mentioned, many wasps and bugs
-are taken. Predacious and parasitic hymenopterous insects and predacious
-beetles, all useful, are eaten only to a slight extent, so that as a whole the insect
-diet of the native sparrows may be considered beneficial. There are several
-records of potato-bug larv� eaten by chipping sparrow&#8217;s.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Melospiza melodia.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Spizella passerina.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Spizella pusilla.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">� 10 �</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 257px;">
-<a id="fig9"></a><img src="images/fig9.png" width="257" height="194" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 9.</span>&#8212;Song sparrow. Length, about
-6&frac12; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Their vegetable food is limited almost
-exclusively to hard seeds. This might
-seem to indicate that the birds feed to
-some extent upon grain, but the stomachs
-examined show only one kind, oats,
-and but little of that. The great bulk
-of the food is made up of grass and
-weed seed, which form almost the entire
-diet during winter, and the amount
-consumed is immense.</p>
-
-<p>In the agricultural region of the upper
-Mississippi Valley, by roadsides, on
-borders of cultivated fields, or in abandoned
-fields, wherever they can obtain a
-foothold, masses of rank weeds spring
-up and often form almost impenetrable
-thickets which afford food and shelter
-for immense numbers of birds and
-enable them to withstand great cold and the most terrible blizzards. A person
-visiting one of these weed patches on a sunny morning in January, when the
-thermometer is 20� or more below zero, will be struck with the life and animation
-of the busy little inhabitants. Instead of sitting forlorn and half frozen,
-they may be seen flitting from branch to branch, twittering and fluttering, and
-showing every evidence of enjoyment and perfect comfort. If one of them is
-captured it will be found in excellent condition; in fact, a veritable ball of fat.</p>
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 258px;">
-<a id="fig10"></a><img src="images/fig10.png" width="258" height="296" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><p><span class="smcap">Fig. 10.</span>&#8212;Field sparrow. Length, about
-5&frac12; inches.]</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The snowbird<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and tree sparrow<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> are
-perhaps the most numerous of all the
-sparrows. Examination of many stomachs
-shows that in winter the tree sparrow
-feeds entirely upon seeds of weeds.
-Probably each bird consumes about one-fourth of an ounce a day. In an article
-contributed in 1881 to the New York
-Tribune the writer estimated the amount
-of weed seed annually destroyed by
-these birds in Iowa. On the basis of
-one-fourth of an ounce of seed eaten
-daily by each bird, and an average of
-ten birds to each square mile, remaining
-in their winter range 200 days, there
-would be a total of 1,750,000 pounds,
-or 875 tons of weed seed consumed in
-a single season by this one species.
-Large as are these figures, they unquestionably
-fall far short of the reality.
-The estimate of 10 birds to a square
-mile is very conservative, for in Massachusetts,
-where the food supply is
-less than in the Western States, the tree
-sparrow is even more abundant than
-this in winter. The writer has known
-places in Iowa where several thousand tree sparrows could be seen within the
-space of a few acres. This estimate, moreover, is for a single species, while,
-as a matter of fact, there are at least half a dozen birds (not all sparrows) that
-habitually feed during winter on these seeds. Farther south the tree sparrow
-is replaced in winter by the white-throated sparrow,<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> the white-crowned sparrow,<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>
-the fox sparrow,<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> the song sparrow, the field sparrow, and several others;
-so that all over the land a vast number of these seed eaters are at work during
-the colder months reducing next year&#8217;s crop of worse than useless plants.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Junco hyemails.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Spizella monticola.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Zonotrichia albicollis.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Zonotrichia leucophrys.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Passerella iliaca.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">� 11 �</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="HOUSE_FINCH" id="HOUSE_FINCH">HOUSE FINCH.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>Of all the sparrow group, there is probably no member, unless it be the
-exotic form known as the English sparrow,<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> that has by reason of its food
-habits called down so many maledictions upon its head as the house finch,<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a>
-red-head, or linnet, as it is variously called. This bird, like the other members
-of its family, is by nature a seed eater, and before the beginning of fruit
-raising in California probably subsisted upon the seeds of weeds, with an occasional
-taste of some wild berry. Now, however, when orchards have extended
-throughout the length and breadth of the State and every month from May to
-December sees some ripening fruit, the linnets take their share. As their
-name is legion, the sum total of the fruit that they destroy is more than the
-fruit raiser can well spare. As the bird has a stout beak, it has no difficulty
-in breaking the skin of the hardest fruit and feasting upon the pulp, thereby
-spoiling the fruit and giving weaker-billed birds a chance to sample and acquire
-a taste for what they might not otherwise have molested. Complaints against
-this bird have been many and loud, more especially in the years when fruit
-crops first came to be an important factor in the prosperity of the Pacific coast.
-At that time the various fruits afforded the linnets a new and easily obtained
-food, while cultivation had reduced their formerly abundant supply of weed
-seed. When the early fruit growers saw their expected golden harvest suddenly
-snatched away or at least much reduced in value by the little marauders,
-it is no wonder that they were exasperated and wished to destroy the authors
-of the mischief.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Passer domesticus.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p>In order to test the matter thoroughly and ascertain whether these birds
-ate any other kind of food that might to some extent offset the damage inflicted
-upon the fruit, the horticulturists and ornithologists of California were requested
-to secure a number of the stomachs of these birds and send them to the Biological
-Survey. An agent was also sent to the fruit-raising sections, who
-watched the birds in the orchards and collected a number of them. In this
-way 1,206 stomachs were obtained and carefully examined, and the result shows
-that animal food (insects) constituted 2.44 per cent and vegetable food 97.56
-per cent of the stomach contents, not counting gravel.</p>
-
-<p>So small a proportion of animal food can not, of course, mean a great
-destruction of insects. As these stomachs were collected in every month, with
-the greater number taken during the summer, it is evident that whatever good
-one may expect from the linnet must not be looked for in this direction.
-Unlike most of the sparrow family, the linnet does not feed its young upon
-insects to any great extent. The contents of the stomachs of a number of
-nestlings were carefully examined, and the only animal food was found to
-consist of woolly plant lice. These also constituted the great bulk of the
-animal food eaten by adults.</p>
-
-<p>The vegetable food of the species consists of three principal items&#8212;grain,
-fruit, and weed seeds. Grain amounts to less than 1&frac12; per cent in August, which
-is the month of greatest consumption, and the average for the year is a trifle
-more than one-fourth of 1 per cent. Fruit attains its maximum in September,
-when it amounts to 27 per cent of the whole food, but the average for the year
-is only 10 per cent. The seeds of weeds constitute the bulk of the diet of the
-linnet, and in August, the month of least consumption, amount to about 64
-per cent of the food. The average for the year is 86 per cent.</p>
-
-<p>From the foregoing it is evident that whatever the linnet&#8217;s sins may be,
-grain eating is not one of them. In view of the great complaint made against
-its fruit-eating habit, the small quantity found in the stomachs taken is somewhat
-of a surprise. But it must be remembered that the stomach contents
-do not tell the whole story. When a bird takes a single peck from a cherry or
-an apricot, it spoils the whole fruit, and in this way may ruin half a dozen in
-taking a single meal. It is safe to say that the fruit pulp found in the stomach
-does not represent more than one-fifth of what is actually destroyed. That
-the linnets are persistent and voracious eaters of early fruits, especially
-cherries and apricots, every fruit raiser in California will bear testimony. That
-the damage is often serious no one will deny. It is noticeable, however, that
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">� 12 �</a></span>
-the earliest varieties are the ones most affected; also, that in large orchards
-the damage is not perceptible, while in small plantations the whole crop is frequently
-destroyed.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_GRACKLES" id="THE_GRACKLES">THE GRACKLES.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The crow blackbird or grackle<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> (<a href="#fig11">fig. 11</a>) in one or more of its subspecies is a
-familiar object in all the States east of the Rocky Mountains. Throughout
-the year it is resident as far north as southern Illinois, and in summer extends
-its range into the Canadian Provinces. In the Mississippi Valley it is one of
-the most abundant of birds, preferring to nest in the artificial groves and
-windbreaks near farms instead of in the natural &#8220;timber&#8221; which it formerly
-used. It breeds also in parks and near buildings, often in considerable colonies.
-Farther east, in New England, it is only locally abundant, though frequently
-seen in migration. In the latter days of August and throughout September it
-is found in immense numbers before moving southward.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Quiscalus quiscula.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The grackle is accused of many sins, such as stealing grain and fruit and
-robbing the nests of other birds. An examination of 2,346 stomachs shows
-that nearly one-third of its food consists of insects, most of which are injurious.
-The bird also eats a few snails, crawfishes, salamanders, small fish, and occasionally
-a mouse. The stomach contents do not indicate that it robs other
-birds&#8217; nests to any great extent, as remains of birds and birds&#8217; eggs amount
-to less than half of 1 per cent.</p>
-
-<p>It is on account of its vegetable food that the grackle most deserves condemnation.
-Grain is eaten during the
-whole year, and only for a short
-time in summer is other food attractive
-enough to induce the bird
-to alter its diet. The grain taken
-in winter and spring probably consists
-of waste kernels from the
-stubble. The stomachs do not indicate
-that the bird pulls sprouting
-grain; but the wheat eaten in July
-and August and the corn eaten in
-fall are probably from fields of
-standing grain. The total amount
-of grain consumed during the year
-constitutes 45 per cent of the food,
-but it is safe to say that at least
-half is waste grain and consequently
-of no value. Although the
-crow blackbird eats a few cherries
-and blackberries in their season, and in the fall some wild fruit, it apparently
-does no damage in this way.</p>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 275px;">
-<a id="fig11"></a><img src="images/fig11.png" width="275" height="203" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 11.</span>&#8212;Purple grackle. Length, about 12 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Large flocks of grackles no doubt do considerable injury to grain crops, and
-there seems to be no remedy, except the destruction of the birds, which is in
-itself expensive. During the breeding season, however, the species does much
-good by eating insects and by feeding them to its young, which are reared
-almost entirely upon this food. The bird does the greatest amount of good in
-spring, when it follows the plow in search of large grubworms, of which it is
-so fond that it sometimes literally crams its stomach full of them.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="BREWER_BLACKBIRD" id="BREWER_BLACKBIRD">BREWER BLACKBIRD.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The Brewer blackbird<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> takes the place in the Western States of the grackle, or
-crow blackbird, which lives in the Mississippi Valley and farther east and is
-very similar in appearance and habits. It breeds east to the Great Plains and
-north into Canada, and winters over most of its breeding range in the United
-States and south to Guatemala. At home in fields, meadows, and orchards, and
-about ranch buildings and cultivated lands generally, it nests in bushes and
-weeds, sometimes in trees, and is very gregarious, especially about barnyards and
-corrals. The bird feeds freely in stockyards and in cultivated fields, and
-when fruit is ripe does not hesitate to take a share. During the cherry season
-in California the birds are much in the orchards. In one case they were
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">� 13 �</a></span>
-observed feeding on cherries, but when a neighboring fruit grower began to
-plow his orchard almost every blackbird in the vicinity was upon the newly
-opened ground close after the plowman&#8217;s heels in its eagerness to secure the
-insects turned up.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Euphagus cyanocephalus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The laboratory investigation of this bird&#8217;s food covered 312 stomachs, collected
-in every month and representing especially the fruit and grain sections
-of southern California. The animal portion of the food was 32 per cent and
-the vegetable 68 per cent.</p>
-
-<p>Caterpillars and their pup� amounted to 12 per cent of the whole food and
-were eaten every month. They include many of those pests known as cutworms.
-The cotton-boll worm, or corn-ear worm, was identified in at least 10 stomachs,
-and in 11 were found pup� of the codling moth. The animal food also included
-other insects, and spiders, sow bugs, snails, and eggshells.</p>
-
-<p>The vegetable food may be divided into fruit, grain, and weed seeds. Fruit
-was eaten in May, June, and July, not a trace appearing in any other month,
-and was composed of cherries, or what was thought to be such, strawberries,
-blackberries or raspberries, and fruit pulp or skins not further identified.
-However, the amount, a little more than 4 per cent for the year, was too small
-to make a bad showing, and if the bird does no greater harm than is involved
-in its fruit eating it is well worth protecting. Grain amounts to 54 per cent
-of the yearly food and forms a considerable percentage in each month; oats
-are the favorite and were the sole contents of 14 stomachs, and wheat of 2, but no
-stomach was completely filled with any other grain. Weed seeds, eaten in
-every month to the extent of 9 per cent of the food, were found in rather small
-quantities and irregularly, and appear to have been merely a makeshift.</p>
-
-<p>Stomachs of nestlings, varying in age from 24 hours to some that were nearly
-fledged, were found to contain 89 per cent animal to 11 per cent vegetable matter.
-The largest items in the former were
-caterpillars, grasshoppers, and spiders.
-In the latter the largest items
-were fruit, probably cherries; grain,
-mostly oats; and rubbish.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="BALTIMORE_ORIOLE" id="BALTIMORE_ORIOLE">BALTIMORE ORIOLE.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 260px;">
-<a id="fig12"></a><img src="images/fig12.png" width="260" height="183" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 12.</span>&#8212;Baltimore oriole. Length, about
-7&frac12; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Brilliancy of plumage, sweetness of
-song, and food habits to which no exception
-can be taken are some of
-the striking characteristics of the
-Baltimore oriole<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> (<a href="#fig12">fig. 12</a>). In summer
-it is found throughout the northern
-half of the United States east of
-the Great Plains. Its nest commands
-hardly less admiration than the
-beauty of its plumage or the excellence of its song. Hanging from the tip of
-the outermost bough of a stately elm, it is almost inaccessible to depredators
-and so strongly fastened as to bid defiance to the elements.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Icterus galbula.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Observation both in the field and laboratory shows that caterpillars constitute
-the largest item of the fare of the oriole. In 204 stomachs they formed 34
-per cent of the food, and they are eaten in varying quantities during all the
-months in which the bird remains in this country. The fewest are eaten in
-July, when a little fruit also is taken. The other insects consist of beetles, bugs,
-ants, wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders. The beetles are principally click
-beetles, the larv� of which are among the most destructive insects known; and
-the bugs include plant and bark lice, both very harmful, but so small and
-obscure as to be passed over unnoticed by most birds. Ants are eaten mostly
-in spring, grasshoppers in July and August, and wasps and spiders with considerable
-regularity throughout the season.</p>
-
-<p>During the stay of the oriole in the United States, vegetable matter amounts
-to only a little more than 16 per cent of its food, so that the possibility of its
-doing much damage to crops is very limited. The bird is accused of eating
-peas to a considerable extent, but remains of such were found in only two
-cases. One writer says that it damages grapes, but none were found in the
-stomachs.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">� 14 �</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="BULLOCK_ORIOLE" id="BULLOCK_ORIOLE">BULLOCK ORIOLE.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The Bullock oriole<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> is practically a counterpart of the Baltimore oriole, taking
-the place of that species west of the Plains and throughout the Pacific coast
-region. It does not essentially differ in its habits of nesting or in its food from
-its eastern relative, but it is less beautiful in plumage. The examination of
-162 stomachs shows that 79 per cent of its food consists of insects, with a few
-spiders, a lizard, a mollusk shell, and eggshells. Beetles amounted to 35 per
-cent, and all except a few ladybugs were harmful species. Ants were found in
-19 stomachs, and in one there was nothing else. Bees, wasps, etc., were in 56
-stomachs, and entirely filled 2 of them. Including the ants, they amount to
-nearly 15 per cent of the food of the season.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Icterus bullocki.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>One of the most interesting articles of food in the oriole&#8217;s dietary was the
-black olive scale, found in 45 stomachs, and amounting to 5 per cent of the
-food. In several cases these scales formed 80 per cent or more of the contents,
-and in one, 30 individual scales could be counted. They were evidently a
-standard article of diet, and were eaten regularly in every month of the
-oriole&#8217;s stay except April. Hemipterous insects other than scales, eaten quite
-regularly, make up a little more than 5 per cent of the food. They were mostly
-stinkbugs, leaf hoppers, and tree hoppers. Plant lice were found in one stomach.</p>
-
-<p>Moths, pup�, and caterpillars compose the largest item of the oriole&#8217;s animal
-food. The average consumption during its summer stay is a little more than
-41 per cent. Of these, perhaps the most interesting were the pup� and larv�
-of the codling moth. These were found in 23 stomachs, showing that they
-are not an unusual article of diet. No less than 14 of the pupa cases were found
-in one stomach, and as they are very fragile many others may have been present,
-but broken beyond recognition.</p>
-
-<p>Grasshoppers probably do not come much in the oriole&#8217;s way. They were
-eaten, however, to the extent of a little more than 3 per cent. But in spite
-of the fact that grasshoppers are eaten so sparingly, 2 stomachs, both taken in
-June, contained nothing else, and another contained 97 per cent of them.</p>
-
-<p>Various insects and spiders, with a few other items, make up the rest of the
-animal food, a little more than 5 per cent. Spiders are not important in the
-oriole&#8217;s food, but are probably eaten whenever found. They were identified in
-44 stomachs, but in small numbers. The scales of a lizard were found in one
-stomach and the shell of a snail in another.</p>
-
-<p>The vegetable contingent of the oriole&#8217;s food is mostly fruit, especially in
-June and July, when it takes kindly to cherries and apricots, and sometimes
-eats more than the fruit grower considers a fair share. However, no great
-complaint is made against the bird, and it is probable that as a rule it does
-not do serious harm. With such a good record as an insect eater it can well
-be spared a few cherries.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_MEADOWLARKS" id="THE_MEADOWLARKS">THE MEADOWLARKS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The eastern meadowlark<a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> (<a href="#fig13">fig. 13</a>) is a common and well-known bird occurring
-from the Atlantic coast to the Great Plains, where it gives way to the closely
-related western species,<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> which extends thence westward to the Pacific. It
-winters from our southern border as far north as the District of Columbia,
-southern Illinois, and occasionally Iowa. The western form winters somewhat
-farther north. Although it is a bird of the plains, and finds its most congenial
-haunts in the prairies of the West, it is at home wherever there is level or undulating
-land covered with grass or weeds, with plenty of water at hand.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Sturnella magna.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Sturnella neglecta.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>In the 1,514 stomachs examined, animal food (practically all insects) constituted
-74 per cent of the contents and vegetable matter 26 per cent. As would
-naturally be supposed, the insects were ground species, as beetles, bugs, grasshoppers,
-and caterpillars, with a few flies, wasps, and spiders. A number of the
-stomachs were collected when the ground was covered with snow, but even these
-contained a large percentage of insects, showing the bird&#8217;s skill in finding
-proper food under adverse circumstances.</p>
-
-<p>Of the various insects eaten, crickets and grasshoppers are the most important,
-constituting 26 per cent of the food of the year and 72 per cent of the
-food in August. It is scarcely necessary to mention the beneficial effect of a
-number of these birds on a field of grass in the height of the grasshopper season.
-Of the 1,514 stomachs collected at all seasons of the year, 778, or more
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">� 15 �</a></span>
-than half, contained remains of grasshoppers, and one was filled with fragments
-of 37 of these insects. This seems to show conclusively that grasshoppers
-are preferred, and are eaten whenever they can be found. Especially
-notable is the great number taken in August, the month when grasshoppers
-reach their maximum abundance; stomach examination shows that large
-numbers of birds resort at this time to this diet, no matter what may be the
-food during the rest of the year.</p>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 275px;">
-<a id="fig13"></a><img src="images/fig13.png" width="275" height="171" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 13.</span>&#8212;Meadowlark. Length, about 10 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Next to grasshoppers, beetles make up the most important item of the meadowlark&#8217;s
-food, amounting to 25 per cent, about one-half of which are predacious
-ground beetles. The others are all harmful species.</p>
-
-<p>Forty-two individuals of different kinds of May beetles were found in the
-stomachs of meadowlarks, and there were probably many more which were
-past recognition. To this form and several closely allied ones belong the
-numerous white grubs, which are among the worst enemies to many cultivated
-crops, notably grasses and grains, and to a less extent strawberries and garden
-vegetables. In the larval stage they eat the roots of these plants, and being
-large, one individual may destroy several plants. In the adult stage they feed
-upon the foliage of trees and other plants, and in this way add to the damage
-which they began in the earlier form. As these enemies of husbandry are not
-easily destroyed by man, it is obviously wise to encourage their natural foes.</p>
-
-<p>Among the weevils found in the stomachs the most important economically
-are the cotton-boll weevil and the recently introduced alfalfa weevil of Utah.
-Several hundred meadowlarks were taken in the cotton-growing region, and
-the boll weevil was found in 25 stomachs of the eastern meadowlark and in 16
-of the western species. Of the former, one stomach contained 27 individuals.
-Of 25 stomachs of western meadowlarks
-taken in alfalfa fields of
-Utah, 15 contained the alfalfa weevil.
-In one stomach 23 adults were
-found, in another 32 adults and 70
-larv�, still another had 10 adults
-and 40 larv�, while a fourth had 4
-adults and 100 larv�.</p>
-
-<p>Caterpillars form a very constant
-element of the food, and in May
-constitute over 24 per cent of the
-whole. May is the month when the
-dreaded cutworm begins its deadly
-career, and then the lark does some
-of its best work. Most of these
-caterpillars are ground feeders, and
-are overlooked by birds which habitually frequent trees, but the meadowlark
-finds and devours them by thousands. The remainder of the insect food is made
-up of ants, wasps, and spiders, with some bugs, including chinch bugs, and a
-few scales.</p>
-
-<p>The vegetable food consists of grain and weed and other hard seeds. Grain
-in general amounts to 11 per cent and weed and other seeds to 7 per cent.
-Grain, principally corn, is eaten mostly in winter and early spring and consists,
-therefore, of waste kernels; only a trifle is consumed in summer and
-autumn, when it is most plentiful. No trace of sprouting grain was discovered.
-Clover seed was found in only six stomachs, and but little in each. Seeds of
-weeds, principally ragweed, barnyard grass, and smartweed, are eaten from
-November to April, inclusive, but during the rest of the year are replaced by
-insects.</p>
-
-<p>Briefly stated, more than half of the meadowlark&#8217;s food consists of harmful
-insects; its vegetable food is composed either of noxious weeds or waste grain,
-and the remainder is made up of useful beetles or neutral insects and spiders.
-A strong point in the bird&#8217;s favor is that, although naturally an insect eater, it
-is able to subsist on vegetable food, and consequently is not forced to migrate
-in cold weather farther than is necessary to find ground free from snow.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_RED-WINGED_BLACKBIRDS" id="THE_RED-WINGED_BLACKBIRDS">THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The red-winged or swamp blackbird<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> in its various forms (<a href="#fig14">fig. 14</a>) is found
-all over the United States and the region immediately to the north. While
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">� 16 �</a></span>
-common in most of its range, its distribution is more or less local, mainly on
-account of its partiality for marshes. It builds its nest over or near standing
-water, in tall grass, rushes, or bushes. Owing to this peculiarity the bird may
-be absent from large tracts of country which afford no swamps or marshes
-suitable for nesting. It usually breeds in large colonies, though single families,
-consisting of a male and several females, may sometimes be found in a small
-slough, where each female builds her nest and rears her own little brood, while
-her liege lord displays his brilliant colors and struts in the sunshine. In the
-upper Mississippi Valley the species finds most favorable conditions, for the
-countless prairie sloughs and the margins of the numerous shallow lakes afford
-nesting sites for thousands of red-wings; and here are bred the immense flocks
-which sometimes do so much damage to the grain fields of the West. After the
-breeding season the birds congregate preparatory to migration, and remain
-thus associated throughout the winter.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Agelaius ph&#339;niceus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Three species and several subspecies of red-wings are recognized,<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> but practically
-no difference exists in the habits of these forms either in nesting or
-feeding, except such as may result from local conditions. Most of the forms are
-found on the Pacific side of the continent, and may be considered as included in
-the following statements as to food and economic status.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Agelaius ph&#339;niceus</i> (8 forms), <i>Agelaius gubernator</i>, and <i>Agelaius tricolor</i>.</p></div>
-
-<p>Many complaints have been made against the red-wing, and several States
-have at times placed a bounty upon its head. It is said to cause great damage
-to grain in the West, especially in the upper Mississippi Valley, but no complaints
-come from the northeastern section,
-where the bird is much less abundant
-than in the West and South.</p>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 272px;">
-<a id="fig14"></a><img src="images/fig14.png" width="272" height="245" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 14.</span>&#8212;Red-winged blackbird. Length, about
-9&frac12; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Examination of 1,083 stomachs
-showed that vegetable matter forms
-74 per cent of the food, while animal
-matter, mainly insects, forms but 20
-per cent. A little more than 10 per
-cent consists of beetles, mostly
-harmful species. Weevils, or snout
-beetles, amount to 4 per cent of the
-year&#8217;s food, but in June reach 25
-per cent. As weevils are among the
-most harmful insects known, their
-destruction should condone some, at
-least, of the sins of which the bird
-is accused. Grasshoppers constitute
-nearly 5 per cent of the food, while
-the rest of the animal matter is
-made up of various insects, a few
-snails, and crustaceans. The few
-dragon flies found were probably
-picked up dead, for they are too
-active to be taken alive, unless by a bird of the flycatcher family. So far as the
-insect food as a whole is concerned, the red-wing may be considered entirely
-beneficial.</p>
-
-<p>The interest in the vegetable food of this bird centers around grain. Only
-three kinds, corn, wheat, and oats, were found in the stomachs in appreciable
-quantities. They aggregate but little more than 13 per cent of the whole food,
-oats forming nearly half of this amount. In view of the many complaints that
-the red-wing eats grain, this record is surprisingly small. The purple grackle
-has been found to eat more than three times as much. In the case of the crow,
-corn forms one-third of the food, so that the red-winged blackbird, whose diet
-is made up of only a trifle more than one-eighth of grain, is really one of the
-least destructive species. The most important item of the bird&#8217;s food, however,
-is weed seed, which forms practically all of its food in winter and about 57 per
-cent of the fare of the whole year. The principal weed seeds eaten are those
-of ragweed, barnyard grass, and smartweed. That these seeds are preferred is
-shown by the fact that the birds begin to eat them in August, when grain is still
-readily obtainable, and continue feeding on them even after insects become
-plentiful in April. The red-wing eats very little fruit and does practically no
-harm to garden or orchard. Nearly seven-eighths of its food is made up of
-weed seed or of insects injurious to agriculture, indicating unmistakably that
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">� 17 �</a></span>
-the bird should be protected, except, perhaps, in a few places where it is overabundant.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="BOBOLINK" id="BOBOLINK">BOBOLINK.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 275px;">
-<a id="fig15"></a><img src="images/fig15.png" width="275" height="265" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 15.</span>&#8212;Bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird.
-Length, about 7 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> (<a href="#fig15">fig. 15</a>) is a common summer resident of
-the United States, north of about latitude 40�, and from New England westward
-to the Great Plains, wintering beyond our southern border. In New England there
-are few birds about which so much romance clusters as this rollicking songster,
-naturally associated with sunny June meadows; but in the South there are none
-on whose head so many maledictions have been heaped on account of its fondness
-for rice. During its sojourn in the Northern States it feeds mainly upon insects
-and seeds of useless plants; but
-while rearing its young, insects constitute
-its chief food, and almost the
-exclusive diet of its brood. After
-the young are able to fly, the whole
-family gathers into a small flock
-and begins to live almost entirely
-upon vegetable food. This consists
-for the most part of weed seeds,
-since in the North these birds do
-not appear to attack grain to any
-great extent. They eat a few oats,
-but their stomachs do not reveal a
-great quantity of this or any other
-grain. As the season advances they
-gather into larger flocks and move
-southward, until by the end of
-August nearly all have left their
-breeding grounds. On their way
-they frequent the reedy marshes
-about the mouths of rivers and on
-the inland waters of the coast region
-and subsist largely upon wild rice.
-In the Middle States, during their southward migration, they are commonly
-known as reed birds, and becoming very fat are treated as game.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Dolichonyx oryzivorus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Formerly, when the low marshy shores of the Carolinas and some of the
-more southern States were devoted to rice culture the bobolinks made great
-havoc both upon the sprouting rice in spring and upon the ripening grain on
-their return migration in the fall. With a change in the rice-raising districts,
-however, this damage is no longer done.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="CROW" id="CROW">CROW.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>In one or another of its geographic races the common crow<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> (<a href="#fig16">fig. 16</a>) breeds in
-great numbers throughout the States east of the Plains and from the Gulf well
-up into Canada, while in less abundance it is found in California and in the
-Northwestern States. During the colder months a southern migratory movement
-brings most of these birds within the borders of the United States, and
-at about the latitude of Philadelphia and southern Illinois we find them congregating
-nightly in roosts. Farmers dwelling in the vicinity of such roosts
-frequently suffer losses to shocked corn.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Corvus brachyrhynchos.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>In fact none of our native birds so much concerns the average farmer of the
-Eastern States as the common crow. Many of our present criticisms of this
-bird, as its pulling sprouting corn, feeding on ripening ears, damaging fruits of
-various kinds, destroying poultry and wild birds, and disseminating diseases
-of live stock, were common complaints in the days of the early colonists. Many
-of the virtues of the crow, now quite generally recognized, also have been
-matters of record for many years. In recent times, however, scientific study
-of these problems, including the examination of the stomachs of hundreds of
-crows secured in every month of the year and under a variety of conditions,
-has enabled us to render a much fairer verdict than was formerly possible.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">� 18 �</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The crow is practically omnivorous. During spring and early summer any
-form of insect life seems to make a desirable item in its diet, and in winter
-when hard pressed nothing in the animal or vegetable kingdoms which contains
-a morsel of nutriment is overlooked.</p>
-
-<p>The insect food of the crow, which comprises about a fifth of its yearly
-sustenance, does much to atone for its misdemeanors. Grasshoppers, May
-beetles and their larv� (white grubs), caterpillars, weevils, and wireworms
-stand out prominently. In 1,103 stomachs examined these highly injurious
-forms comprised over 80 per cent of the insect food. Grasshoppers are naturally
-taken in greatest abundance late in the season, September being the
-month of largest consumption, when they form about a fifth of the total
-food. May beetles and white grubs are eaten in every month except January,
-but occur most prominently in May. In June caterpillars are a favorite food,
-and weevils of various kinds are taken in varying quantities throughout summer
-and fall. About half of the remaining 20 per cent of insect food is composed of
-beneficial ground beetles, ladybirds, predacious bugs, and parasitic wasps, and
-related forms, the rest consisting of neutral or injurious forms. Numerous
-instances are on record where fields badly infested with white grubs or grasshoppers
-have been favorite resorts of crows, whose voracity has resulted in
-a material suppression of the pest. When the amount of food required to
-sustain the individual crow is considered, the work of these birds appears all
-the more important. Single stomachs
-containing upward of 50
-grasshoppers are not uncommon.
-Thus in its choice of insect food
-the crow is rendering an important
-service to the farmer.</p>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 281px;">
-<a id="fig16"></a><img src="images/fig16.png" width="281" height="201" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 16.</span>&#8212;Crow. Length, about 19 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>In the other animal food of the
-crow are several items of the utmost
-economic importance. Spiders
-are taken in considerable
-numbers in May and June, but the
-yearly total is a little over 1 per
-cent of the food. In early spring
-crawfish are eagerly sought, and
-other aquatic food as fish and mollusks lend variety to the crow&#8217;s
-bill of fare the year round. In the
-consumption of toads, salamanders,
-frogs, and some snakes, which together
-compose a little over 2 per cent of the yearly food, the crow is doubtless
-doing harm. Small rodents occurred in the stomachs collected nearly every
-month, but it is often difficult to determine whether small mammals found in
-birds&#8217; stomachs were taken alive or found dead.</p>
-
-<p>From its carrion-eating habits the crow has been unfairly criticized as a
-disseminator of live-stock diseases. While this may be to some extent just, the
-fact that there are many other important carriers which lie largely beyond our
-control, shows that we must seek final relief only through the strictest methods
-of sanitation.</p>
-
-<p>The nest-robbing habit of the crow, long a serious criticism, is verified by
-stomach analysis. Fifty of the 1,103 crows examined had fed on wild birds or
-their eggs, and the eggs of domestic fowls were found slightly more frequently.
-The crow&#8217;s habit of rummaging about garbage piles may explain much of this
-latter material.</p>
-
-<p>Of the vegetable food, corn, which is eaten every month, is the most important
-item and forms about a third of the yearly diet. Much of this, however,
-must be considered waste. Over 60 per cent is consumed from the first
-of November to the end of March. During the periods when corn is sprouting
-and when in the &#8220;roasting-ear&#8221; stage the crow is eating this grain at a rate
-considerably less than the yearly average, and the months of smallest consumption
-are July and August. At times, however, the damage to corn becomes a
-serious problem, and were it not possible to make use of such deterrents as coal
-tar upon seed corn there would be little friendship for the crow in some sections
-of the East. The &#8220;pulling&#8221; of corn is a trait most prevalent in small-field
-areas. Wheat and oats suffer similar damage at times, especially in the
-Northwestern States, where these grains predominate. About the only safeguard
-to ripening grain is the constant use of powder and shot or the scarecrow.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">� 19 �</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Various kinds of cultivated fruits also are eaten, and local damage to such
-crops as apples, melons, peas, beans, peanuts, and almonds is occasionally reported.
-In long, rigorous winters, the crow, like other birds, resorts to the fruit
-of numerous wild plants, as dogwood, sour gum, hackberry, smilax, and the
-several species of sumac and poison ivy.</p>
-
-<p>Damage to the eggs of poultry may be reduced to a minimum by careful
-housing of laying hens, and the farmer can protect his sprouting grain to a
-large extent by the use of tar-coated seed. It will be well also to keep the
-crow within reasonable numbers on game preserves and public parks where it
-is desired to encourage the nesting of smaller birds. While legal protection is
-not needed for so wary an individual as the crow, it seems well, where local
-conditions have not aggravated some particular shortcomings of the bird, to
-allow it to continue the good services rendered to man in the destruction of
-noxious insects.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="BLUE_JAY" id="BLUE_JAY">BLUE JAY.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The blue jay<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> (<a href="#fig17">fig. 17</a>) is a conspicuous member of our bird population east
-of the Plains, especially in autumn when his brilliant plumage contrasts vividly
-with the brown foliage. Even in winter he stays with us, though at this time
-he is less common along our northern border. In spring and summer, while by
-no means uncommon, the blue jay is not so often noticed, as the retiring disposition
-which he assumes during the breeding season assists in protecting him
-from enemies. This also allows him to carry on with considerable impunity
-that inglorious practice of nest robbing
-of which, in a measure, he
-has been rightfully accused.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Cyanocitta cristata.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 265px;">
-<a id="fig17"></a><img src="images/fig17.png" width="265" height="177" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 17.</span>&#8212;Blue jay. Length, about 11&frac12;
-inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Examination of 530 stomachs
-collected at all times of the year
-in 30 of our Eastern States and
-Canada shows that insects comprise
-about 22 per cent of the yearly
-sustenance. About three-fourths of
-these are injurious, the remainder
-being neutral or beneficial. Of the
-injurious insects grasshoppers form
-the largest portion; in August
-nearly a fifth of the food. Caterpillars
-are conspicuous in July
-and August and at this time average
-about a tenth of the stomach
-contents. Both laboratory investigations and field observations have established
-the fact that in winter the eggs of the tent caterpillar and the hibernating
-larv� of the brown-tail moth in New England are eagerly sought. Scarab�id
-beetles form about 4 per cent of the yearly food, and click beetles and wireworms
-about 1 per cent. Of the beneficial forms ground beetles (3 per cent)
-and hymenopterous insects, part of which are parasitic (2.5 percent), are taken
-most frequently. A few other invertebrates, as spiders, millipedes, mollusks, and
-crustaceans, also are eaten throughout the year.</p>
-
-<p>In the consideration of the vertebrate food of the blue jay we are confronted
-with the problem of the destruction of wild birds and their eggs. Special search
-was made for every possible trace of such material in the stomachs, and in 6
-of the 530 were found the remains of wild birds or their eggs. In February
-two jays had killed a small bird apiece; in May one had robbed a nest of eggs;
-in June two had taken a small bird and a clutch of eggs, respectively; and in
-August another had robbed a nest. As this trait of the jay appears to be most
-pronounced during its own breeding season, it is quite possible for many birds
-which have suffered from his boldness early in the season to raise another
-brood unmolested. Thirty-nine of the 530 jays examined had fed on hen&#8217;s eggs
-Much of this food, however, was picked up about rubbish heaps to which the
-jay, like other members of the crow family, is partial. While the result of
-stomach analysis would appear to belittle this fault of the blue jay, it is doubtless
-quite characteristic of the bird under favorable conditions.</p>
-
-<p>Complaint that the jay is the source of considerable damage to corn in the
-fall has been verified to a certain degree by stomach examination. This grain
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">� 20 �</a></span>
-is taken in every month of the year, but in greater quantities during winter and
-early spring, when much of it is necessarily waste, and it forms about 18 per
-cent of the yearly food. Cultivated fruits of various kinds are eaten from
-June to the end of the year, and the To per cent taken in July apparently justifies
-complaints against the bird on this score. The favorite vegetable food of the
-blue jay is mast of various kinds, acorns predominating, but beechnuts, chestnuts,
-chinquapins, and hazelnuts also are relished. This food is important in
-every month but July and August, the yearly average being over 43 per cent,
-and from October to March it constitutes about two-thirds of the diet. Occasionally
-harm is done by feeding also on cultivated nuts, as pecans. Wild fruits
-are eaten during the summer and fall and constitute about 7 per cent of the
-yearly sustenance.</p>
-
-<p>The blue jay probably renders its best services to man in destroying grasshoppers
-late in the season and in feeding on hibernating insects and their eggs,
-as they do in the case of the tent caterpillar and brown-tail moth. Such forest
-insects as buprestid beetles and weevils of various kinds also fall as their prey.</p>
-
-<p>The blue jay&#8217;s vegetable food, with the exception of some cultivated fruit and
-corn in the fall, is largely neutral. The severest criticism against the species is
-the destruction of other birds and their eggs. Where we wish to attract the
-latter in large numbers about our dooryards, in our parks, and in game preserves,
-it will be well not to allow the jays to become too abundant.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="PACIFIC_COAST_JAYS" id="PACIFIC_COAST_JAYS">PACIFIC COAST JAYS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>In California and adjacent States two species of jays are much in evidence
-under several more or less well-marked forms.</p>
-
-<p>The Steller jay<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> much resembles the eastern bird, but it is more shy and
-retiring and seldom visits the orchard or vicinity of the ranch buildings.
-Stomach examination shows that its food does not radically differ from that of
-the eastern blue jay. As is the case with that bird, a very considerable part
-of the food consists of mast, together with a little fruit and some insects. The
-insects are largely wasps, with some beetles and grasshoppers. The jay also
-eats some grain, which is probably waste or volunteer. No complaints, so far
-as known, are made against this bird. Until it shall become less wary it is not
-likely to trespass to a serious extent upon the farmer&#8217;s preserve.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Cyanocitta stelleri.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The California jay,<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> although of a different genus, more nearly resembles its
-eastern relative in food habits and actions. It freely visits the stockyards near
-ranch buildings, and orchards and gardens. As a fruit stealer it is notorious.
-One instance is recorded where seven jays were shot from a prune tree, one
-after the other, the dead bodies being left under the tree until all were killed.
-So eager were the birds to get the fruit that the report of the gun and the sight
-of their dead did not deter them from coming to the tree. In orchards in
-canyons or on hillsides adjacent to chaparral or other cover great mischief is
-done by this bird. In one such case an orchard was under observation at a time
-when the prune crop was ripening, and jays in a continuous stream were seen
-to come down a small ravine to the orchard, prey upon the fruit, and return.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> <i>Aphelocoma californica.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Fruit stealing, however, is only one of the sins of the California jay. That
-it robs hens&#8217; nests is universal testimony. A case is reported of a hen having
-a nest under a clump of bushes; every day a jay came to a tree a few rods away,
-and when it heard the cackle of the hen announcing a new egg it flew at once
-to the nest. At the same time the mistress of the house hastened to the spot
-to secure the prize, but in most cases the jay won the race. This is only one of
-many similar cases recounted. The jays have learned just what the cackle of
-the hen means. Another case more serious is that related by a man engaged
-in raising white leghorn fowls on a ranch several miles up a canyon. He
-stated that when the chicks were very young the jays attacked and killed
-them by a few blows of the beak and then pecked open the skull and ate out
-the brains. In spite of all efforts to protect the chicks and kill the jays the
-losses in this way were serious.</p>
-
-<p>Examination of the stomachs of 326 California jays shows that 27 per cent
-of the contents for the year consists of animal matter and 73 per cent of vegetable.
-Although the great bulk of the animal food is made up of insects, the
-remains of eggshells and birds&#8217; bones appear much too often. The insect food
-is fairly well distributed among the more common orders, but grasshoppers are
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">� 21 �</a></span>
-slightly the most numerous and constitute 4.5 per cent of the year&#8217;s food. In
-July, August, and September, however, the amount is 14, 18, and 19 per cent,
-respectively. Four per cent of the food consists of wasps, bees, etc., but in the
-three months named they constitute 15, 7, and 9 per cent, respectively. A
-worker honeybee found in each of two stomachs is rather surprising, for it is
-unusual to find a bird like the jay eating many of these active and elusive
-insects, which enter into the diet of the flycatchers. The remainder of the
-insect food is pretty evenly distributed among beetles, bugs, flies, and caterpillars.
-Eggshells were found in 21 stomachs and birds&#8217; bones in 5. Six
-stomachs contained the bones of mammals and two those of a lizard. No bird
-has a worse reputation for nest robbing than has the eastern jay, and yet of
-530 stomachs of the eastern species only 6 contained eggshells or the bones of
-birds. This comparison serves to show what a marauder and nest thief the
-California jay really is.</p>
-
-<p>In its vegetable diet this bird much resembles its eastern relative, the most
-remarkable difference being in the matter of fruit eating. With greater opportunities
-the California bird has developed a greater appetite for fruit and
-indulges it to the fullest extent. Remains of fruit were found in 220 of the 326
-stomachs. The percentage for the year is only 16, but for the four months of
-June, July, August, and September it is 44, 33, 53, and 25, respectively. Cherries,
-apricots, and prunes are the favorites among cultivated fruits, and elderberries
-are relished to some extent. Grain, which was found in 48 stomachs,
-amounts to 6 per cent of the food of the year. Practically all of it was taken
-in the four months above mentioned, but it is not probable that much damage
-is done by the jay in this respect. The major portion of the grain was oats.
-What was not wild was probably simply scattered grain gleaned after the
-harvest. Mast is eaten by the California jay from September to March, inclusive,
-and constitutes during most of that period one of the principal elements of
-its food. In this respect the bird shows a remarkable similarity to the eastern
-species. A few weed seeds and other miscellaneous items make up the balance
-of the vegetable food.</p>
-
-<p>In summing up from an economic point of view the character of the food
-of the California jay, it must be conceded that it is not all that could be wished.
-Its taste for birds&#8217; eggs and fruit is entirely too pronounced, and at present the
-species is superabundant in California. While the natural food supply of the
-bird has been lessened by bringing the woods and brushy canyons under cultivation,
-the same areas have been planted to fruit, and naturally the jay takes
-the fruit as an acceptable substitute. A considerable reduction of the bird&#8217;s
-numbers would appear to be the only effective remedy.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_PHOEBES" id="THE_PHOEBES">THE PH&#338;BES.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>Among the early spring arrivals to their northern homes none is more welcome
-than the ph&#339;be (<a href="#fig18">fig. 18</a>). The common ph&#339;be<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> breeds throughout the
-United States east of the Great Plains, and winters from the South Atlantic
-and Gulf States southward. Its western relative, the black ph&#339;be,<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> is found
-from Texas west to the Pacific coast, which it occupies as far north as Washington,
-replacing through most of this region the common or eastern form.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Sayornis ph&#339;be.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Sayornis nigricans.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Though naturally building its nest under an overhanging cliff of rock or
-earth, or in the mouth of a cave, the preference of the eastern species for the
-vicinity of farm buildings is so marked that in the more thickly settled parts
-of the country the bird is seldom seen at any great distance from a farmhouse,
-except where a bridge spanning a stream affords a secure spot for a nest. Its
-confiding disposition renders it a great favorite, and consequently it is seldom
-disturbed.</p>
-
-<p>The ph&#339;be subsists almost exclusively upon insects, most of which are caught
-upon the wing. An examination of 370 stomachs showed that over 89 per cent
-of the year&#8217;s food consists of insects and spiders, while wild fruit constitutes
-the remainder. The insects belong chiefly to noxious species, and include many
-click beetles, May beetles, and weevils. Other beetles, belonging to 21 families
-that were identified, make up 10.65 per cent. They appear to be eaten very
-regularly in every month, but the most are taken in spring and early summer.
-May is the month of maximum consumption, with 20.43 per cent. Beetles altogether
-amount to 15.3 per cent, which places them second in rank of the items
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">� 22 �</a></span>
-of animal food. The notorious cotton-boll weevil was found in six stomachs
-taken in the cotton fields of Texas and Louisiana, and five individuals of the
-strawberry weevil were taken from one collected in Texas. Many other beetles
-contained in the stomachs are equally harmful, but are not so widely known.
-Such are the corn leaf-beetle, which feeds upon corn; the 12-spotted cucumber
-beetle and the striped cucumber beetle, both of which seriously injure and
-sometimes destroy cucumber and squash vines; and the locust leaf miner,
-which is sometimes so numerous that all the locust trees over large areas are
-blasted as by fire.</p>
-
-<p>In the ph&#339;be&#8217;s diet hymenopterous insects stand at the head, as in the case
-with most of the flycatchers. They are eaten with great regularity and are
-the largest item in nearly every month. A few are useful parasitic species,
-but these are offset by a number of sawfly larv�, which are very harmful
-insects. Ants were found in 24 stomachs. No honeybees were identified. In
-their season grasshoppers are much relished, while wasps of various forms,
-many flies of species that annoy cattle, and a few bugs and spiders are also
-eaten regularly. It is evident that a pair of ph&#339;bes must materially reduce
-the number of insects near a garden or field, as the birds often, if not always,
-raise two broods a year, and each brood numbers from four to six young.</p>
-
-<p>There is hardly a more useful species, about the farm than the ph&#339;be, and
-it should receive every encouragement. To furnish nesting boxes is helpful,
-but not necessary, as it usually prefers a more open situation, like a shed or
-a nook under the eaves, but it
-should be protected from cats and
-other marauders.</p>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 271px;">
-<a id="fig18"></a><img src="images/fig18.png" width="271" height="248" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><i>Fig. 18.</i>&#8212;Ph&#339;be. Length, about 6&frac12; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The black ph&#339;be has the same
-habits as its eastern relative, both
-as to selection of food and nesting
-sites, preferring for the latter purpose
-some structure of man, as a
-shed or, better still, a bridge over a
-stream of water, and the preference
-of the black ph&#339;be for the vicinity
-of water is very pronounced. One
-may always be found at a stream
-or pool and often at a watering
-trough by the roadside.</p>
-
-<p>Careful study of the habits of the
-bird shows that it obtains a large
-portion of its food about wet places.
-While camping beside a stream in
-California the writer took some
-pains to observe the habits of the
-black ph&#339;be. The nesting season
-was over, and the birds had nothing to do but eat. This they appeared to be
-doing all the time. When first observed in the morning, at the first glimmer of
-daylight, a ph&#339;be was always found flitting from rock to rock, although it was
-so dusky that the bird could hardly be seen. This activity was kept up all day.
-Even in the evening, when it was so dark that notes were written by the aid of
-the camp fire, the ph&#339;be was still engaged in its work of collecting, though it
-was difficult to understand how it could catch insects when there was scarcely
-light enough to see the bird. Exploration of the stream showed that every
-portion of it was patrolled by a ph&#339;be, that each one apparently did not range
-over more than 12 or 13 rods of water, and that sometimes two or three were in
-close proximity.</p>
-
-<p>The number of insects destroyed in a year by the black ph&#339;be is enormous.
-Fortunately, the examination of stomachs has supplemented observation in
-the field, and we are enabled to give precise details. Of the 333 stomachs examined,
-every one contained insects as the great bulk of the food. Only 15
-contained any vegetable food at all, and in no case was it a considerable part
-of the contents of the stomach. The insects eaten were mostly wasps, bugs,
-and flies, but many beetles also were destroyed.</p>
-
-<p>Useful beetles belonging to three families amount to 2.8 per cent of the
-food. Other beetles of harmful or neutral species reach 10.5 per cent. Wasps,
-the largest item of the food, were found in 252 stomachs and were the whole
-contents of 15. The average for the year is 35 per cent. Parasitic species
-were noted, but they were very few. Ants were found in 48 stomachs, and for
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">� 23 �</a></span>
-a short time in midsummer they constitute a notable part of the food. Various
-wild bees and wasps make up the bulk of this item. No honeybees were found.</p>
-
-<p>Bugs in various forms constitute 10.56 per cent and are eaten in every month
-but May. Stinkbugs appear to be the favorites, as they were contained in 10
-stomachs. Plant lice were found in one stomach. Flies, forming the second
-largest item, were found in 97 stomachs and completely filled 3. They constitute
-the most regular article in the black ph&#339;be&#8217;s diet. The maximum consumption
-occurs in April, 64.3 per cent. The black ph&#339;be well merits its title
-of flycatcher.</p>
-
-<p>Moths and caterpillars amount to 8.2 per cent of the food. They were found
-in 72 stomachs, of which 51 contained the adult moths and 28 the larv� or
-caterpillars. One stomach was entirely filled with adults. This is one of the
-few birds studied by the writer that eats more moths than caterpillars, for as
-a rule the caterpillars are largely in excess. Flycatchers, taking their food
-upon the wing, would naturally prove exceptions to the rule. Crickets are
-evidently not a favorite food of the black ph&#339;be, as they amount to only 2.45
-per cent. They were found in 39 stomachs, but usually the amount in each
-was small, though one stomach was entirely filled with them. Grasshoppers did
-not appear. Dragon flies were eaten to some extent, and these illustrate the
-fondness of the species for the neighborhood of water.</p>
-
-<p>The vegetable matter eaten consisted chiefly of small wild fruits of no
-economic importance.</p>
-
-<p>Another ph&#339;be inhabiting the Western States and breeding as far north as
-Alaska is the Say ph&#339;be.<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Investigation of its food was based on the examination
-of 86 stomachs, and while none were available for the months when
-insects are most numerous, the bird proved to be one of the most exclusively
-insectivorous of the family. That it takes a few useful insects can not be
-denied, but these are far outnumbered by the harmful ones it destroys, and the
-balance is clearly in favor of the bird. Its vegetable food amounts to only 2
-per cent and is made up of a little wild fruit, seeds, and rubbish.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Sayornis sayus.</i></p></div>
-
-
-
-
-<h2><a name="THE_KINGBIRDS" id="THE_KINGBIRDS">THE KINGBIRDS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The well-known eastern kingbird<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> (<a href="#fig19">fig. 19</a>) is essentially a lover of the
-orchard, though groves and the edge of forests were probably its original habitat.
-It breeds in the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and less commonly in
-the Great Basin and on the Pacific coast. Its hostility to hawks and crows is
-proverbial, and for this reason a family of kingbirds is a desirable adjunct
-to a poultry yard. On one occasion in the knowledge of the writer a hawk
-which attacked a brood of young turkeys was pounced upon and so severely
-buffeted by a pair of kingbirds whose nest was near by that the would-be robber
-was glad to escape without his prey. Song birds that nest near the kingbird
-are similarly protected.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Tyrannus tyrannus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The kingbird is largely insectivorous. It is a true flycatcher and takes on
-the wing a large part of its food. It does not, however, confine itself to this
-method of hunting, but picks up some insects from trees and weeds, and even
-descends to the ground in search of myriapods or thousand legs. The chief
-complaint against the species by both professional bee keepers and others has
-been that it preys largely upon honeybees. One bee raiser in Iowa, suspecting
-the kingbirds of feeding upon his bees, shot a number near his hives; but when
-the stomachs of the birds were examined by an expert entomologist, not a trace
-of honeybees could be found.</p>
-
-<p>An examination of 665 stomachs collected in various parts of the country
-was made by the Biological Survey, but only 22 were found to contain remains
-of honeybees. In these 22 stomachs there were in all 61 honeybees, of which
-51 were drones, 8 were certainly workers, and the remaining 2 were too badly
-broken to be further identified.</p>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 266px;">
-<a id="fig19"></a><img src="images/fig19.png" width="266" height="279" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 19.</span>&#8212;Kingbird. Length, about 8&frac12; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The insects that constitute the great bulk of the food of the bird are noxious
-species, largely beetles&#8212;May beetles, click beetles (the larv� of which are
-known as wire worms), weevils, which prey upon fruit and grain, and a host
-of others. Wasps, wild bees, and ants are conspicuous elements of the food, far
-outnumbering the hive bees. During summer many grasshoppers and crickets,
-as well as leaf hoppers and other bugs, also are eaten. In the stomachs
-examined were a number of robber flies&#8212;insects which prey largely upon other
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">� 24 �</a></span>
-insects, especially honeybees, and which are known to commit in this way
-extensive depredations. It is thus evident that the kingbird by destroying
-these flies actually does good work for the apiarist. The 26 robber flies found
-in the stomachs may be considered more than an equivalent for the 8 worker
-honeybees already mentioned. A few caterpillars are eaten, mostly belonging
-to the group commonly known as cutworms, all the species of which are
-harmful.</p>
-
-<p>About 11 per cent of the food consists of small native fruits, comprising some
-30 common species of the roadsides and thickets, as dogwood berries, elderberries,
-and wild grapes. The kingbird is not reported as eating cultivated
-fruit to an injurious extent, and it is very doubtful if this is ever the case.</p>
-
-<p>In the Western States the Arkansas kingbird<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> is not so domestic in its habits
-as its eastern relative, preferring to live among scattering oaks on lonely hillsides,
-rather than in orchards about ranch buildings. The work it does, however,
-in the destruction of noxious insects fully equals that of any member
-of its family. Like other flycatchers, it subsists mostly upon insects taken in
-midair, though it eats a number of grasshoppers, probably taken from the
-ground. The bulk of its food consists of beetles, bugs, wasps, and wild bees.
-Like its eastern representative, it has been accused of feeding to an injurious
-extent upon honeybees. In an examination of 62 stomachs of this species,
-great care was take to identify every insect or fragment that had any resemblance
-to a honeybee; as a result,
-30 honeybees were identified, of
-which 29 were males or drones and 1
-a worker. These were contained in
-four stomachs, and were the sole contents
-of three; in the fourth they
-constituted 99 per cent of the food.
-It is evident that the bee-eating habit
-is only occasional and accidental,
-rather than habitual; and it is also
-evident that if this ratio of drones
-to workers were maintained, the bird
-would be of more benefit than harm
-to the apiary.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Tyrannus verticalis.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The Cassin kingbird<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> has a more
-southerly range than the Arkansas
-fly-catcher. Examination of a number
-of stomachs shows that its food
-habits are similar to those of others
-of the group.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Tyrannus vociferans.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Three points seem to be clearly
-established in regard to the food of
-the kingbirds&#8212;(1) that about 90 per
-cent consists of insects, mostly injurious
-species; (2) that the alleged
-habit of preying upon honeybees is much less prevalent than has been supposed,
-and probably does not result in any great damage; and (3) that the vegetable
-food consists almost entirely of wild fruits which have no economic value.</p>
-
-<p>All of the kingbirds are of the greatest importance to the farmer and fruit
-grower, as they destroy vast numbers of harmful insects, and do no appreciable
-damage to any product of cultivation.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="NIGHTHAWK" id="NIGHTHAWK">NIGHTHAWK.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>The nighthawk, or bull-bat<a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> breeds throughout most of the United States and
-Canada, and winters in South America. It is strictly insectivorous, and hence
-does no damage to crops. The only charge that can be made against the bird
-is that it destroys some useful insects, but these are greatly in the minority in
-its food.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Chordeiles virginianus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>Nighthawks are so expert in flight that no insects can escape them. In
-their capacious mouths they sweep up everything from the largest moths and
-dragon flies to the tiniest ants and gnats, and in this way sometimes gather
-most remarkable collections of insects. Several stomachs have contained 50
-or more different kinds, and the number of individuals ran into the thousands.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">� 25 �</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Nearly a fourth of the birds&#8217; total food is composed of ants. These insects
-are generally annoying and often very injurious, especially on account of their
-damage to stored products and because of their habit of fostering destructive
-plant lice. More than a fifth of the nighthawk&#8217;s food consists of June bugs,
-dung beetles, and other beetles of the leaf-chafer family. These are the adults
-of white grubs, noted pests, and even as adults many members of the family
-are decidedly harmful.</p>
-
-<p>Numerous other injurious beetles, as click beetles, wood borers, and weevils,
-are relished. True bugs, moths, flies, grasshoppers, and crickets also are
-Important elements of the food. Several species of mosquitoes, including the
-transmitter of malaria, are eaten. Other well-known pests consumed by the
-nighthawk are Colorado potato beetles, cucumber beetles, rice, clover-leaf, and
-cotton-boll weevils, bill bugs, bark beetles, squash bugs, and moths of the
-cotton worm.</p>
-
-<p>Nighthawks are much less numerous than formerly, chiefly because of
-wanton shooting. They are given full legal protection almost everywhere,
-and citizens should see that the law is obeyed. The bird is far too useful and
-attractive to be persecuted.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_WOODPECKERS" id="THE_WOODPECKERS">THE WOODPECKERS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 278px;">
-<a id="fig20"></a><img src="images/fig20.png" width="278" height="312" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 20.</span>&#8212;Hairy woodpecker. Length, about 9
-inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Five or six species of woodpeckers
-are familiarly known
-throughout eastern United States,
-and in the West are replaced by
-others of similar habits. Several
-species remain in the Northern
-States through the entire year,
-while others are more or less migratory.</p>
-
-<p>Farmers are prone to look upon
-woodpeckers with suspicion. When
-the birds are seen scrambling over
-fruit trees and pecking holes in
-the bark, it is concluded that they
-must be doing harm. Careful observers,
-however, have noticed that,
-excepting a single species, these
-birds rarely leave any conspicuous
-mark on a healthy tree, except
-when it is affected by wood-boring
-larv�, which are accurately located,
-dislodged, and devoured by
-the woodpecker.</p>
-
-<p>Two of the best-known woodpeckers,
-the hairy woodpecker<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> (<a href="#fig20">fig. 20</a>) and the downy woodpecker,<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> including
-their races, range over the greater part of the United States. They differ
-chiefly in size, their colors being practically the same. The males, like those
-of many other woodpeckers, are distinguished by a scarlet patch on the head.
-An examination of many stomachs of these two species shows that from two-thirds
-to three-fourths of the food consists of insects, chiefly noxious kinds.
-Wood-boring beetles, both adults and larv� are conspicuous, and with them are
-associated many caterpillars, mostly species that burrow into trees. Next in
-importance are the ants that live in decaying wood, all of which are sought by
-woodpeckers and eaten in great quantities. Many ants are particularly harmful
-to timber, for if they find a small spot of decay in the vacant burrow of a wood
-borer, they enlarge the hole, and, as their colony is always on the increase,
-continue to eat away the wood until the whole trunk is honeycombed. Moreover,
-they are not accessible to birds generally, and could pursue their career of
-destruction unmolested were it not that the woodpeckers, with beaks and
-tongues especially fitted for such work, dig out and devour them. It is thus
-evident that woodpeckers are great conservators of forests. To them more than
-to any other agency we owe the preservation of timber from hordes of destructive
-insects.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Dryobates villosus.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Dryobates pubescens.</i></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">� 26 �</a></span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="fig_left" style="width: 267px;">
-<a id="fig21"></a><img src="images/fig21.png" width="267" height="221" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 21.</span>&#8212;Flicker. Length, about 12&frac12; inches. </div>
-</div>
-
-<p>One of the larger woodpeckers familiar to everyone is the flicker, or golden-winged
-woodpecker<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> (<a href="#fig21">fig. 21</a>), which is generally distributed throughout the
-United States from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. There it is
-replaced by the red-shafted flicker,<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> which extends westward to the Pacific.
-The two species are as nearly identical
-in food habits as their respective
-environments will allow. The
-flickers, while genuine woodpeckers,
-differ somewhat in habits from the
-rest of the family, and are frequently
-seen searching for food upon the
-ground. Like the downy and hairy
-woodpeckers, they feed upon wood-boring
-grubs and ants, but the number
-of ants eaten is much greater
-than that eaten by the other two
-species. Of the flickers&#8217; stomachs
-examined, three were completely
-filled with ants. Two of these contained
-more than 3,000 individuals
-each, while the third contained fully
-5,000. These ants belong to species
-which live in the ground. It is these
-insects for which the flicker searches
-when it runs about in the grass, although some grasshoppers also are then
-taken. The flicker&#8217;s habit of pecking holes in buildings sometimes greatly
-annoys his human friends, and it is particularly noticeable in the California
-species. Observation has shown that the object of the work is to obtain shelter
-for the winter. In the East most of the flickers are migratory, and only a few
-remain North where shelter is necessary. These generally find a safe retreat
-in the hollow tree in which they nested. In California, however, where the
-birds do not migrate, trees are not so
-abundant as in the East, and consequently
-buildings are brought into
-requisition, and in them holes are
-drilled, usually under the eaves,
-where snug nights&#8217; lodgings are
-found. Often a dozen holes may be
-seen in one building. Barns or other
-outbuildings are usually selected,
-though churches sometimes have
-been used.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Colaptes auratus.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Colaptes cafer collaris.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 262px;">
-<a id="fig22"></a><img src="images/fig22.png" width="262" height="287" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 22.</span>&#8212;Red-headed woodpecker. Length, about 9&frac12; inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The red-headed woodpecker<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> (<a href="#fig22">fig. 22</a>), is well known east of the Rocky
-Mountains, but is rather rare in New
-England. Unlike some of the other
-species, it prefers fence posts and
-telegraph poles to trees as a foraging
-ground. Its food therefore naturally
-differs from that of the preceding
-species, and consists largely of
-adult beetles and wasps which it
-frequently captures on the wing after
-the fashion of flycatchers. Grasshoppers
-also form an important part
-of the food. Among the beetles are a
-number of predacious ground species
-and some tiger beetles, which are
-useful insects. The red-head has been accused of robbing nests of other birds, and
-of pecking out the brains of young birds and poultry; but as the stomachs showed
-little evidence to substantiate this charge, the habit probably is exceptional.</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>Melanerpes erythrocephalus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p>The vegetable food of woodpeckers is varied, but consists largely of small
-fruits and berries. The downy and hairy woodpeckers eat such fruits as dogwood
-and Virginia creeper and seeds of poison ivy, sumac, and a few other
-shrubs. The flicker also eats a great many small fruits and the seeds of a considerable
-number of shrubs and weeds. None of the three species is much
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">� 27 �</a></span>
-given to eating cultivated fruits or crops. The red-head has been accused of
-eating the larger kinds of fruit, as apples, and also of taking considerable corn.
-Stomach examinations show that to some extent these charges are substantiated,
-but that the habit is not prevalent enough to cause much damage. The
-bird is fond of mast, especially beechnuts, and when these nuts are plentiful
-it remains north all winter.</p>
-
-<p>Woodpeckers apparently are the only agents which can successfully cope
-with certain insect enemies of the forest, and, to some extent, with those of
-fruit trees also. For this reason, if for no other, they should be protected in
-every possible way.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h2><a name="THE_CUCKOOS" id="THE_CUCKOOS">THE CUCKOOS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>Two species of cuckoos are common in the United States east of the Great
-Plains, the yellow-billed cuckoo<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> (<a href="#fig23">fig. 23</a>) and the black-billed cuckoo,<a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> and in
-the West a relative of the yellow-bill, the California cuckoo,<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> ranges from
-Colorado and Texas to the Pacific coast. While the two species are quite distinct,
-the food habits of the yellow-bill and the black-bill do not greatly differ
-and their economic status is practically the same.</p>
-
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Coccyzus americanus.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Coccyzus erythropthalmus.</i></p>
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> <i>Coccyzus americanus occidentalis.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="fig_right" style="width: 296px;">
-<a id="fig23"></a><img src="images/fig23.png" width="296" height="204" alt="" />
-<div class="fig_caption"><span class="smcap">Fig. 23.</span>&#8212;Yellow-billed cuckoo. Length, about
-12 inches.</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Examination of 155 stomachs has shown that these species are much given
-to eating caterpillars, and, unlike
-most birds, do not reject those
-covered with hair. In fact,
-cuckoos eat so many hairy caterpillars
-that the hairs pierce the
-inner lining of the stomach and
-remain there, so that when the
-stomach is opened it appears to
-be lined with a thin coating of fur.</p>
-
-<p>An examination of the stomachs
-of 46 black-billed cuckoos,
-taken during the summer months,
-showed the remains of 906 caterpillars,
-44 beetles, 96 grasshoppers,
-100 sawflies, 30 stinkbugs,
-and 15 spiders. In all probability
-more individuals than
-these were represented, but their
-remains were too badly broken
-for recognition. Most of the caterpillars were hairy, and many of them belong
-to a genus that lives in colonies and feeds on the leaves of trees, including the
-apple tree. One stomach was filled with larv� of a caterpillar belonging to the
-same genus as the tent caterpillar, and possibly to that species. Other larv�
-were those of large moths, for which the bird seems to have a special fondness.
-The beetles were for the most part click beetles and weevils, including a few
-May beetles. The sawflies were contained in two stomachs, one of which held
-no less than 60 in the larval stage.</p>
-
-<p>Of the yellow-billed cuckoo, 109 stomachs (collected from May to October)
-were examined. They contained 1,865 caterpillars, 93 beetles, 242 grasshoppers,
-37 sawflies, 69 bugs, 6 flies, and 86 spiders. As in the case of the black-billed
-cuckoo, most of the caterpillars belonged to hairy species and many of them
-were of large size. One stomach contained 250 American tent caterpillars;
-another 217 fall webworms. The beetles were distributed among several families,
-all more or less harmful to agriculture. In the same stomach which contained
-the tent caterpillars were 2 Colorado potato beetles; in another were
-3 goldsmith beetles, and remains of several other large beetles. Besides the
-ordinary grasshoppers were several katydids and tree crickets. The sawflies
-were in the larval stage, in which they resemble caterpillars so closely that
-they are commonly called false caterpillars by entomologists. The bugs consisted
-of stinkbugs and cicadas, or dog-day harvest flies, with the single exception
-of one wheel bug, which was the only useful insect eaten.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1915</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<div class="trans_notes">
-<p class="caption2">Transcriber Note</p>
-
-
-<p>Illustrations moved to prevent splitting paragraphs.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 630 (1915
-edition), by F. E. Beal
-
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