1792 



The Cornelt. Reading-Courses 



the water. The grebes, or hell-divers, are about the size of small ducks, 

 with short wings, pointed bills, and lobed feet attached at the posterior 

 end of the body. The bills are not so strong nor so sharply pointed as 

 those of the preceding groups, or as those of the loon, for the grebes feed 

 also on aquatic insects and water plants. 



The loon is about the size of a small goose, black, speckled with white 

 above, with webbed feet and a strong, pointed bill. 



The mergansers are species 

 of ducks that have developed 

 very narrow, fluted bills for 

 a diet largely of fish. 



As with the other fish 

 eaters, the economic value 

 of these birds is not very 

 appreciable. So long as 

 they are not detrimental, 

 however, they 

 protected and 

 It should not 



that their value be reckoned 

 in dollars and cents, when 

 they add so much interest 

 and life to the out of-doors. 



; 



should be 

 encouraged, 

 be required 



Fig. 22. — ■ The pie-hilled grebe, a diver 



The scavengers 



One group of fish-eat- 

 ing birds remains to be 

 considered — the scavengers. 

 These include the various 

 species of sea gulls, of which 

 bald eagle, and at times the 



the herring gull is most common, the 

 crows and the grackles. The food of these birds is dead and dying fish, 

 and they render a service to huinanity and to the health of communities 

 living near large bodies of water by removing the carrion. When 

 pressed by hunger the gulls leave the lakes and feed about city garbage 

 dumps and similar places, and they regularly feed about ploughed fields, 

 where they are undoubtedly very beneficial in eating insects and grubs. 

 Mention was made in the introductory paragraphs of the value of the 

 gulls in Utah, at the time of its settlement by the Mormons, in saving 

 them from actual starvation. They are certainly among our most bene 

 ficial birds. 



