180 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



much alarmed by shooting. As a. matter of fact, however, they eat culti- 

 vated fruits only during a small part of the year, two or three months at 

 most, and even at that time they also eat very many injurious insects. 

 Probably they eat more canker-worms than any other one species of bird; 

 it is not uncommon to find their stomachs crammed with these worms, to 

 the exclusion of all other food. They also eat the strong-smelling Chryso- 

 melid beetles, which few other birds will touch, and, as this family of 

 insects includes some of our worst leaf-eaters, the bird's insect diet is 

 almost all in its favor. True, it has no song, (I know of no other small 

 bird so nearly voiceless), yet its beauty commends it and its quaintness 

 and sociability makes it a favorite with many. 



The red-headed woodpecker seldom becomes a serious enemy of the 

 fruitgrower, except in the vicinity of heavy timber, or where the woods 

 have been thinned out and dead or dying trees are disproportionately 

 plentiful. Much of the bird's insect food comes from such trees, and is 

 therefore of little importance. It eats many grasshoppers, however, as 

 well as large beetles, some of which certainly are injurious. In most dis- 

 tricts where this bird was superabundant formerly it is yearly becoming 

 less so, and in many places is seldom seen at all. 



The English sparrow is now so well known thatanycommentsmayseem 

 superfluous; yet after all, very few people realize the constantly increas- 

 ing danger from this pest. Aside from its sturdy, cheery, aggressive pres- 

 ence the year around, and the additional fact that it does sometimes eat a 

 few insects, it has nothing to commend it, but much to condemn it. It 

 drives out some of our most useful and best-loved birds by taking posses- 

 sion of their nesting places; it contaminates rainwater, stops up roof 

 pipes, soils porches, buildings, trees, shrubbery, and ornamental work; 

 and it always attacks grain crops which are accessible, and often preys 

 upon fruits. The latter charge is often denied, because it frequently hap- 

 pens that sparrows are known to be abundant in the midst of ripening 

 fruits and yet no injury is noted. Just why this is the case is hard to 

 explain, but it is certain that, sooner or later, there will come a time when 

 some one sparrow will discover that grapes or cherries or raspberries or 

 apples are good to eat, and then in less than a week the whole sparrow 

 population will turn greedily toward this newly-discovered food supply. 

 This has been the history of the plague everywhere, and it will continue 

 to be repeated so long as the sparrows are allowed to multiply unmo- 

 lested. The good done by eating is infinitesimal; the possible harm is 

 almost infinite; the certain damage is immense. 



The well-known catbird has so many good points that it almost seems 

 unjust to call attention to his failings; yet he is by no means faultless. 

 No other bird steals into the vineyard so noiselessly and punctures the 

 choicest grapes until only ragged clusters remain; and he is equally bad 

 on cherries, and scarcely less so on strawberries. Our principal consola- 

 tion lies in the fact that catbirds are never very numerous, and o"r next 

 bit of comfort comes in connection with the beautiful song of the bird. 

 Really, the species probably has a yet stronger claim upon our forbear- 

 ance, from the nature of its insect food, but as yet our studios of this sub- 

 ject are too meagre to make it safe to say verv much. The birr! fills a 

 place, however, which is hardly shared by any other species, and it is more 

 than probable that it consumes enough of our insect foes to more than 



