268 Missouri Agricultural Kcport. 



martins) which came upon their premises, because they claimed that 

 the birds sometimes ate bees. Apparently they failed to observe that 

 the Kingbird ate anything else, and that they kept hawks and crows- 

 away from the poultry yard. Professor Beal, of the Agricultural De- 

 partment at Washington, D. C, examined the contents of 218 King- 

 birds' stomachs and found that only fourteen contained the remains of 

 bees, most of these being drones, Mhile 68 i^er cent, of the Kingbirds'' 

 food was found to consist of injurious insects. 



Again, it is not an unheard-of occurrence for men to order that all 

 robins, catbirds and mockingbirds on their places should be shot, be- 

 cause these birds were seen eating cultivated fruit. But did not the 

 birds perform a great part in helping raise that fruit? Why not do 

 as some men do in the land, who plant a few more trees or vines in 

 order that there may be enough fruit for both the planter and the 

 birds ? 



To many people there is a very great pleasure in having the birds, 

 come to visit them, even if they do eat some frait and grain. In my 

 garden the past spring a small patch of strawberries furnished some 

 acceptable food for a pair of robins which had a nest in a neighbor's yard, 

 and it was also appreciated by two or three catbirds which came from 

 some place nearby. As soon as the sweet corn was matured the red- 

 headed woodpeckers and a large blackbird (grackle) visited the garden 

 daily. But I had no desire to interrupt them. They were my guests, 

 and by their notes, bright colors and vivacious activities gave pleasure 

 to my family and friends who watched them. Then who would think 

 of taking note of what a guest eats ! Besides this, I knew that during 

 the greater part of the year these birds were of much value to my 

 neighbors and me as destroyers of insects. 



Some years ago it was a common sight in North Carolina to see 

 men and boys of evenings shooting for mere sport the bullbat or night- 

 hawk. Often they were shot simply for the fun of seeing them fall. 

 I have found these birds, wounded and unable to fly, lying sufit'ering 

 and helpless among the weeds, twenty-four hours after they had been 

 wantonly and thoughtlessly shot down from the air. And yet these 

 birds are so perfectly harmless and so valuable as insect destroyers that 

 in thirty-eight states of the Union they are protected by law. 



Whenever man interferes with the laws of nature he is liable to- 

 suffer for it. It is one of the divine and absolutely unchangeable laws 

 of nature that birds are set apart to serve as a great natural check 

 upon the hordes of insects which, like a scourge, are ever falling upon 

 the plant life with unabated fury\ To kill the birds is to allow these 

 pests to increase. So thoughtlessly and so unceasingly have we killed 



