For July. 1921 



645 



July Birds 



PAUL B. RIIS 



THE nesting season now has advanced to a point 

 where many of the two brooded birds are engaged 

 in raising their second brood and the cares of the 

 household will lay heavy on them for yet awhile. Robins 

 and bluebirds are nearing the point where the young 

 will shift for themselves. Downy and hairy woodpeckers, 

 nuthatches and chickadees have completed their only 

 brood sometime ago, while some flickers and redheaded 

 woodpeckers are still feeding their young. However, both 

 of these birds nurse their ne.stlings a longer period. 

 Meadowlark, brown thrasher, towhee. woodthrush, rose- 

 breasted grosbeak, phoebe, catbird, house wren and many 

 of the sparrowy birds are all in the incubating or nursing 

 stage of their second nest. Song is slightly waning and 

 will decrease gradually until most birds are again silent, 

 excepting for their call notes. 



It is indeed a wise provision of Xature that the season 

 of nesting and the season of growth of vegetation are 

 simultaneous. The nestlings, often consuming their own 

 weight daily in granivorous or insectivorous feed, mostly 

 the latter, would find their daily rations curtailed at a 

 later period of the season. The tender shoots of all vege- 

 tation in early Spring and Summer are especially favor- 

 able to the rapid increase of insects. The time is propi- 

 tious to study the economic value of our birds, by reason 

 of their diet. 



The sparrowy birds usually divide their field of activity 

 at this season, eating some seeds and many insects with 

 an increasing diet of seeds as insects are becoming less 

 abundant, many of them subsisting largely on weed seeds 

 and waste grain during late Fall, Winter and early 

 Spring. The bronzed grackle. a great destroyer of grub 

 and beetle, is gradually changing into a scavenger of 

 refuse heaps as is also the handsome redheaded wood- 

 pecker. The meadowlark feeds much upon insects, grub 

 or larvre. resorting to seeds and waste grain in their 

 season. The robin appears to disdain a vegetable diet 

 altogether, excepting for cherries, strawberries or wild 

 fruits. F.luebirds are almost entirely insectivorous and 

 show much energy among the potato beetles. Flickers 

 are particularly useful in destroying ants and many a 

 lawn owes its unbroken, velvety sward to the peculiar 

 ant-eating habit of this woodpecker. The house-wren, 

 the most indispensible ally about the yard, devours great 

 quantities of insects in every form and on account of its 

 small size, covers a field not trespassed on or worked by 

 any other bird. The catbird, a lover of fruit though he 

 be, should be permitted to select the food which through 

 its qualities of virtue, assures us of his great repertory, 

 unsurpassed by any of our aerial artists. And many are 

 the insects eaten by preference, w'hich makes this species 

 distinctly a beneficial one. The purple martins, swallows 

 and chimney swifts, the phnebe, wood pewee. kingbird, 

 in fact all of the "flycatchers" are doing mankind an 

 inestimable service by eating mosfiuitoes and flies in 

 great numbers. Puqjle martin, pbiebe and barn swallow 

 can be attracted to the yard and make ideal tenants, the 

 latter two preferring a little more open country. The 

 kingbird, too. known scientificallj- as Tyrainius tyraiiiiiis. 

 is true to his name and and attacks without the least 

 hesitation a pilfering blue jay, crow or hawk, although 

 some would have us believe that his daring is all bhUY. 

 And yet we have encountered no bird so far which will 

 show as much genuine concern and fine anger for its 

 young in the face of danger or make a more dashing and 



brilliant attack than a pair of blue jays which find their 

 secret discovered. 



The nighthawks, too, soaring high on strong wing, 

 subsist entirely on insects, which are mostly injurious. 

 Thus the list can be continued until every species has 

 been enumerated. 



It is passing strange that birds themselves contribute 

 so largely to failures of the egg or nestlings, but personal 

 notes place the loss of entire nests through eggs sucked 

 or disturbed by other birds at 20 per cent of the total of 

 unsuccessful nests. Among these disturbers or egg 

 thieves are counted several of our more aristocratic birds, 

 which sometimes ply their unsavory trade through neces- 

 sity. These birds escape the general persecution by our 

 desirable feathered friends and can be termed "casual 

 enemies." But it is not the purpose of the author to 

 betray the identity of these since the motive may be mis- 

 understood and not accepted as scientific facts. The 

 golden days of June are all too often converted into over- 

 abundant showers, accompanied by aspiring storms. We 

 have learned of but a few nests which were entirely suc- 

 cessful and wonder how Nature is going to proceed to 

 strike the proper balance. One in touch with Xature is 

 dismayed with the many unseen forces at work to destroy 

 bird life, with but few happy conclusions to brighten the 

 outlook or a fortunate break in favor of the birds. And 

 the small boy certainly is not of the least to be reckoned 

 with and many times, we of mature judgment, bungle in- 

 excusably, and contribute a share to the annual loss. 



WATER AND CULTIVATION 



(Continued from, page 638) 



alter the fact that water properly applied will not merely 

 save a crop, but make it 50 per 'cent or ICO per cent bet- 

 ter. This writer has done his share of cultivating and 

 watering and knows one is no use without the other, at 

 least, the maximum benefit is not obtained unless the two. 

 go together. 



It may be a fact that our sea.sons are changing: cer- 

 tain it is that if we have a dry Spring our crops either 

 the same year or the ne.xt are not up to the mark. 



It ma\- be taken for a fact that fruit trees require enor- 

 mous quantities of water during the Spring when they 

 are making leaves and developing buds for the following 

 year. Lack of moisture in April and May means starved 

 buds for the following season. Xo amount of watering 

 or rain later will make up for the shortage at the critical 

 time. 



Much the same may be said of ordinary garden .stock. 

 Xewly sown or newly set out plants cannot make head- 

 way if drought persists. Early starvation, due to lack 

 of moisture, means weakness all through the season. It 

 is utterly u.seless to apply nitrate of .soda or any other 

 dry fertilizer unless water follows immediatelv. Such 

 fertilizers simply remain undissolved, and. as the plant 

 roots cannot and will not take hold of such fertilizers 

 as they do the humus from decayed yard manure, the 

 application of fertilizers is wasteful, inasmuch as the 

 more soluble parts will, later on, be washed away without 

 benefiting anything. 



Just remember that jilants are largely water, and if 

 desired at their maximum they must never go short of it. 

 — Florists' Hxi'liamrc. 



