SUMMER MEETING AT BUTLER. 109 



ment to feel (as I hope they do) that they are always welcome and at 

 home here. 



In the spring of 1884 I plowed up an old field that had been in sod 

 for some fifteen years and found the ground full of cut-worms. I 

 planted the field to watermelons, and as the plants appeared above the 

 ground, the cut worms commenced to destroy them, but our birds, went 

 to the rescue. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon, the 

 blue birds, robins, blackbirds, and various other birds would appear on 

 the ground in large numbers, and when a worm appeared in sight of 

 their keen eyes, he was carried away and destroyed, and the plants 

 were saved without an effort on our part to destroy the worms. The 

 crop of melons was large and fine, and the birds took none of them for 

 their services in the success of the crop. This spring we planted the 

 same ground to strawberries, and while setting the plants found some 

 of the worms still on the ground; but the birds were there, too, and 

 now when cultivating or hoeing the plants, the birds work with us all 

 day long, seemingly trying to aid us in return for our kindness to them ; 

 they help us make our plants and fruits, and we are willing to allow them 

 to take their share of all the fruits on the place. It is true, they may 

 damage and destroy some fruit for us, but as they come long before 

 the fruits are ripe, we feel they must save for us much more than they 

 take for themselves. It is better that the destruction is by birds rather 

 than by insects. 



I find most birds do not eat strawberries, only on unfavor- 

 able, cold, wet seasons, when worms and insects are scarce. Some- 

 times the cat birds, meadow larks and robins, and some other kinds of 

 birds take a few berries, but it don't amount to much, as they usually 

 pick a berry and carry it off" from the field and eat it or feed it to their 

 young before picking another. I think blackbirds eat no strawberries 

 nor fruits of any kind; neither does the dove nor martin, yet they all 

 eat insects. I believe the martin to be a great moth catcher, but 

 whether codling moth or not, I cannot say. The wax bird or cherry 

 bird (sometimes called cedar birds), which visit a cherry tree in large 

 flocks — each trying to see how many cherries he can taste of — are, some 

 seasons, quite bad on strawberry patches, should probably be killed. I 

 sometimes kill them, as they don't appear to happen around us until 

 about the time cherries are ripe. I don't call them friends, neither do 

 I take kindly to the little grape birds 



I fikid the blue jay and bee martin to be rank feeders on cut worms, 

 grubs, May beetles, etc., and though many class them as detrimental 

 to fruits, I number them in our bird family and call them our friends- 

 also. 



