THE PlyANT WORLD 69 



The Wild Flower Preservation Society 



of America. 



THE RELATIONS OF PLANTS TO BIRDS AND INSECTS. 



It may not have occurred to many of our readers to associate the 

 movement for the preservation of our native plants with the work of the 

 Audubon Association and the Entomological Department at Washington, 

 but there is no question that much of the change in the number and 

 habits of our native birds is due to the changes made by man in the 

 extermination of the native plants on which they feed, and that many of 

 the ifisedicides which are so largely in use in agricultural communities are 

 made necessary by the destruction of the natural enemies of the insects, — 

 the birds, — and that they in turn do much to drive the birds away. 

 That the balance of life can not be disturbed in any given region without 

 causing countless unforeseen changes is best illustrated by Darwin's story 

 regarding the connection between the clover, bumble-bee, mice, cats, and 

 old maids. The cat has also become a strong disturbing factor in the 

 extermination of our wild birds, and combined with the destruction of 

 native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants the surroundings of all 

 our cities and towns will account in a great measure for their disappear- 

 ance. Some of the worst insect pests are not natives here, and it takes 

 some time for the native birds to learn to like them. 



' ' It has been found that when the Colorado beetle or potato-bug 

 started on its progress eastward, it met with but little resistance until it 

 reached the State of Iowa. Here, so the story is told, a farmer noticed 

 that after anointing his potato vines with Paris green a number of rose- 

 breasted grosbeaks lay dead on the ground in the morning. He watched 

 the birds and found that they were bolting the objectionable insects with 

 avidity. The grosbeak was the pioneer, but as the years have gone by 

 other eastern birds have conquered their distrust of the new food and 

 relished it." 



The latest observations relate to the cotton boll weevil, which it has 

 been found the mocking-bird will eat. It seems likely but for the great 

 diminution in the number of mocking-birds the Texas pest would never 

 have gained a foothold, or that with more stringent laws for protecting 

 them the great problem of the Southwest is solved. It is also probable 

 that ground-feeding birds such as the grackles and pipilos would probably 

 accomplish quite as much. 



In 1896 the United States Government caused the food of the blue jay 



