1776 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE IN 



NEW YORK STATE 



Each year in the United States there is a loss to agriculture of more 

 than seven hundred millions of dollars owing to the ravages of insects; 

 our forestry and timber interests suffer to an extent of over one hundred 

 millions of dollars. Each year the people of New York State pay a toll 

 of over ten million dollars to the insects. And yet there are still persons 

 who do not appreciate the value of protecting our native birds, the enemies 

 of the insects and one of the chief factors in their control. 



Nor is it only because of the destruction of 

 insects that we owe a great debt to the birds. 

 Certain species, especially during fall and 

 winter, feed almost entirely on the seeds of 

 weeds; a single species, the tree sparrow, 

 which visits New York State from October 

 to April, probably consumes each year not 

 less than nine hundred tons of weed seed. 

 Again, in some parts of the State, field mice 

 and other small rodents are causing consid- 

 erable damage to grain and forage crops, and 

 young orchards have to be protected against 

 them. The chief enemies of these rodents are 

 the hawks and the owls, and yet these birds 

 are most persistently persecuted. A con- 

 servative estimate states that each hawk or 

 owl in the State kills an average of a thousand 

 mice a year — a saving of at least twenty 

 dollars to the farmer whose property it selects 

 for its residence. Thus we might go on enumerating the various ways 

 in which birds are necessary to agriculture, until we arrived at the 

 same conclusion as did H. W. Henshaw, Chief of the United States 

 Biological Survey at Washington, who says that without the birds " it is 

 more than likely — nay, it is almost certain — that within a limited time 

 not only would successful agriculture become impossible, but the 

 destruction of the greater part of the vegetation would follow." 



It must not be assiimed from this, however, that all birds are at all times 

 perfect machines for the destruction of the farmer's foes and entirely ben- 

 eficial in their food habits. It cannot be denied that some of the insects 

 destroyed by birds are beneficial rather than detrimental, and that a few 

 species of birds consume some grain, while others do damage to the smaller 

 fruits, and to poultry. There are no birds, however, that are entirely 



Fig. 10. — The army worm 



