No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 419 



common in the southeastern and southwestern parts. Here is a 

 bottle containing mice that I took from the stomach of this bird; 

 it does not feed upon pigeons, poultry or game birds. I have ex- 

 amined many of them and never have found any poultry in their 

 stomachs. 



Last summer I was riding along the road, and in passing a barn 

 saw one of these barn owls nailed to the barn door, while at the 

 instant of my passing, just beneath it, the rats were chasing each 

 other around the barn. It appeared to me that this was a striking 

 illustration of the results of acting in ignorance of the character 

 and value of these birds. I do not think it is best to leave the in- 

 discriminate shooting of owls or other birds to the average citizen. 



Now, I intended to do a very peculiar thing this evening. I have 

 here a Long-eared Owl which was sent to me yesterday — and by 

 the way, this emphasizes the point, that whenever you have any 

 specimens that come into your hands, I shall be glad to have you 

 send them to me in order that I may study thera and preserve them 

 for our State museum. I intended to open this bird here in your 

 presence and show you that my faith in it as a mouse-eater is well- 

 founded, and I may do it yet before the evening is over.* Here is 

 a bottle with the stomach contents of this kind of owl (referring to 

 a bird exhibited), and as you see, the contents of this bottle are 

 mice and rats, taken from the stomach of one of these Long-eared 

 Owls. Here is a rat taken from the stomach of one of them. 



Here are two birds commonly called sap-suckers. They are not 

 really sap-suckers, but the smaller one is the Downy Woodpecker 

 and the larger one the Hairy Woodpecker. They differ in size only. 

 (The Professor exhibited specimens of beetles.) Here are beetles, 

 commonly known as shot-hole borers, taken from the stomach of 

 one of these woodpeckers. You are familiar with their holes in 

 the trees. The only remedy for these is the birds. 



This small vial contains the stomach contents of another wood- 

 pecker, the Flicker. You will see that among them there are ants 

 which are destructive, as they take care of the plant lice that feed 

 on the roots of the corn, etc., excavating burrows that lead to the 

 roots of the plants. The Flicker is the chief bird to destroy ants 

 and also certain w'ood-boring beetle larvae. 



I think this demonstrates to you the value of investigations along 

 this line and the need of knowledge on such subjects. These are the 

 birds that are frequently persecuted and killed. When I was a boy 

 at home on the farm, we used to stone them and kill them because 

 we thought they were sap-suckers and injured the trees; but instead 

 of that, the woodpeckers, chickadees, nut-hatches and creepers are 

 the chief enemies of the codling moth; no birds in the State of 

 Pennsylvania are more valuable for destroying the codling moth 

 than are these species that I have in my hand. It is unfortunate 

 that these birds are often called ''sap-sucRers;" they are conse- 

 quently persecuted unjustly. I would also call your attention to 

 the fact that at the present time they can reach the eggi, larvae 

 and chrysalids of certain kinds of insects that could not readily be 

 destroyed at other times. For example, the codling moth is in the 



•Upon examination of lt« stomach later It was found to contain two short-tailed Meadow Mice 

 or Voles, which are very destructive. 



