84 Wild Bird Guests 



the yellow-bellied sapsucker, which is said to 

 damage the trees to the extent of $2,250,000 

 annually, and the sharp-shinned and Cooper's 

 hawks, which live almost exclusively on poultry 

 and useful wild birds, are easy to place in the 

 destructive class. Others, like our cuckoos, 

 which feed on destructive hairy caterpillars and 

 other noxious creatures; and tree sparrows, 

 which devote themselves chiefly to the gathering 

 of weed seeds, are as easy to place in the bene- 

 ficial class. But in between we have many birds 

 not so easy to place. For example, the bobolink, 

 which is beneficial in the north, where it feeds 

 mainly on insects, is very destructive in the 

 south, where it works havoc in the rice fields. 

 The great horned owl is very useful in the west, 

 where agriculture is the chief occupation and 

 where the bird destroys vast numbers of gophers, 

 ground squirrels, and other pests; but in the east 

 where the population is denser and where there 

 is more poultry raising, this owl sometimes gets 

 himself very much disliked by killing hens and 

 turkeys. Sometimes birds whose value may not 

 be very apparent under normal conditions, come 

 to the front at the time of a plague of insects or 

 rodents, and perform invaluable service. For 

 instance, when the Mormons first settled Utah, 

 they were threatened with ruin by the millions 



