372 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



main bulk of their food, however, consisting of harmless species. Doubtless 

 they serve a purpose of maintaining a proper balance among the insect hosts, 

 and between animal and vegetable life, but that their service in these depart- 

 ments is so all important as some would urge admits of grave doubt. 



The birds of the second division, namely, those which take their food partly on 

 the wing and partly from trees and shrubs, or on the ground, are not entirely 

 insectivorous. The remarks just made in reference to the first class will ap- 

 ply also to this as far as their food is taken on the wing, but on trees or shrubs, 

 or on the ground, they consume insects of entirely different classes, chiefly 

 beetles and the caterpillars of moths and butterflies. The beetles admit of a 

 similar division to that of the flies already noticed ; the larger number are 

 harmless, a large proportion of the remainder are beneficial, and a few are in- 

 jurious. Most of the caterpillars of moths and butterflies are harmless, feed- 

 ing in limited numbers on a great diversity of shrubs and trees of little or no 

 economic importance. A few may be said to be beneficial, in consequence of 

 their feeding on troublesome weeds, such as thistles, etc., while a few others 

 are decidedly injurious. Among the common birds in this second class I would 

 mention the yellow warbler or spider bird (Dendroeca cestiva), the red start 

 (Setophaga ruticilla), the red-eyed and yellow-throated vireos {Vireo olivaceus), 

 and ( V.flavirons), the various species of wood-pecker {Picidce), and the blue bird 

 {Siala sialis). 



The birds comprised in the third class are only partially insectivorous. 

 Among the common species are the cat-bird (Galeoscoptes Carolinensis), robin 

 {Turdus migratorius) , and brown thrush {Harporhynchus rufus), the spar- 

 rows {Fringillidce), the cuckoos {Coccidce), the nuthatch {Sitta Carolin- 

 ensis), chickadee (Parus atricapillus), kinglets {Sylviidce), meadow-lark 

 (Sturnella magna), Baltimore oriole {Icterus Baltimore), and the wren {Trog- 

 lodytes cedon). Besides these there are the blackbirds {Icteridce), which, in 

 the spring, devour more or less insect food, but feed chiefly on grain and seeds 

 the remainder of the year. Nearly all birds, excepting the rapacious species, 

 feed their young on such soft food as worms, caterpillars, soft-bodied insects 

 and fruit, and from the time that young birds are hatched until they acquire 

 the power of flight, a very large quantity of insect food is undoubtedly con- 

 sumed ; but the question of the greatest practical importance to the agricult- 

 urist is how far are the birds a help in keeping in check injurious insects. With 

 the object of obtaining light on this point, I have, with the help of my son, 

 W. E. Saunders — who has for some years paid special attention to this matter 

 — examined the contents of the stomachs of a large number of birds, and I 

 must frankly confess that the larger the experience gained in this direction the 

 more I have been convinced that but comparatively little help is got from birds 

 in keeping in subjection injurious insects. 



When the cut-worms were so common with us this spring that any bird, with 

 a very little effort, might have had its till of them, the contents of a number of 

 stomachs were examined, especially those of the robin, but not a single speci- 

 men of this larva was found in any of them. It has been urged that some 

 birds devour the larvae of the plum curculio by picking them out of the fallen 

 fruit, but I have failed to find any confirmation of this statement; indeed, 

 never found a curculio larva in the stomach of any bird excepting once in that 

 of a robin, which had evidently swallowed it by accident when bolting a whole 

 cherry. As for the robin having any claims upon the sympathies of man for 

 the good he does, I fear that but a very slight case can be made out in his 

 favor. Of fruit he is a thief of the worst kind, stealing early and late, from 



