1883.] UTILITY OF BIRDS IN AGRICULTURE. 81 



It may be stated as a pretty correct rule, that wherever the large 

 grain fields of our countries are found growing there the swallows 

 are abundant. This, though true as a whole, is especially true of 

 the republican, commonly called the cliff or eave swallow, and 

 of the barn swallow. The bank swallow comes in for a share of 

 this also. It is well known that the summer range of these birds 

 includes nearly all the central portion and the great grain-growing 

 regions of the West. They are all more or less migratory, and 

 spend their winters in Florida and the southern portions of the 

 Gulf States. We do not here include the chimney swallow, more 

 correctly known as the chimney swift, since it flies in the upper 

 strata of the air, while the three species above mentioned fly low 

 and near the ground. The question which now arises, especially 

 in our New England States, is, does not the swallow (these species 

 above referred to) do more harm as a pest about the houses and 

 barns where it clusters beneath the eaves, and builds its nest in 

 every possible corner, than it does good as an insect-catcher? In 

 many of our villages, as you well know, the houses and barns of 

 the people are fairly over-run with the eave and barn swallow. 

 Hundreds of nests have been counted in the small area of the 

 eaves of a single barn, with as many more perhaps on the other 

 side, without counting those building inside the building. But, 

 as pestiferous as they are with their chatterings, and the annoy- 

 ance they give the farmer in various other ways, let us look at the 

 other side. The grain fields, especially of wheat and corn, are 

 attacked in the summer by several species of small insects, like 

 the midges and several similar species, that, in the course of the 

 season, destroy millions of dollars'-worth of grain, while often 

 whole fields are nearly ruined by their ravages; when escaping 

 from the pupa-case these insects fly over the tops of the stalks 

 and from one part of the field to another. This time of the year 

 happens to be about the same as that at which the swallow seeks 

 an extra amount of food for itself and its young. Strange to say 

 the swallow becomes the natural enemy of these insects, and pursues 

 them with unremitting vigilance. Supposing that a single pair of 

 birds have a nestful of five young, a full nest complement, though 

 six are sometimes ra^ised, rarely four or less, suppose that each 

 young bird receives thirty visits an hour, at each of which it 

 receives two or three insects, since the old bird catches several in 

 quick succession and stows them away in the sides and comers of 

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