COMMON BIRDS OF TOWN AND COUNTRY 



at least till the time of migration. Shal- 

 low trays of wood or metal admirably 

 serve the purpose, especially as birds de- 

 light to bathe in them. 



BIRDS SHOULD UVKRYWHIJRE BE) PROTECTED 



By supplying artificial nest-boxes the 

 number of birds may be increased around 

 farms and orchards where their services 

 are most needed. The average farmer's 

 boy, if provided with a few tools, is quite 

 equal to the task of making acceptable 

 boxes for martins, swallows, bluebirds, 

 wrens, woodpeckers, and other species, 

 which are far from fastidious as to the 

 appearance of the box intended for their 

 occupancy. 



Entomologists have estimated that in- 

 sects yearly cause a loss of upward of 

 $700,000,000 to the agricultural interests 

 of the United States. Were it not for our 

 birds the loss would be very much greater, 

 and, indeed, it is believed that without the 

 aid of our feathered friends successful 

 agriculture would be impossible. 



A knowledge of the birds that protect 

 his crops is, therefore, as important to 

 the farmer as a knowledge of the insect 

 pests that destroy them. Such informa- 

 tion is the more needful because the rela- 

 tion of birds to man's interests is ex- 

 tremely complex. 



Thus, while it may be said that most of 

 our birds are useful, there are only a few 

 of them that are always and everywhere 

 useful and that never do harm. Insec- 

 tivorous birds, for instance, destroy, 

 along with a vast number of harmful in- 

 sects, some parasitic and predatory kinds. 

 These latter are among Nature's most 

 effective agents for keeping destructive 

 insects in check. To the extent, then, 

 that birds destroy useful parasitic insects, 

 they are harmful ; but, taking the year 

 round, the good they do by the destruc- 

 tion of insects injurious to man's interests 

 far outweighs the little harm they do. 



It may be said, too, that of the birds 

 usually classed as noxious there are very 

 few that do not possess redeeming traits. 

 Thus the crow is mischievous in spring 

 and sorely taxes the farmer's patience 

 and ingenuity to prevent him from pull- 

 ing up the newly planted corn. More- 

 over, the crow destroys the eggs and 



young of useful insectivorous and game 

 birds ; but, on the other hand, he eats 

 many insects, especially white grubs and 

 cut-worms, and destroys many meadow 

 mice; so that in much (although not all) 

 of the region he inhabits the crow must 

 be considered to be more useful than 

 harmful. 



THEIR WINGS ENABLE BIRDS TO ACT 

 EFFICIENTLY AS POLICEMEN 



Most of the hawks and owls even — 

 birds that have received so bad a name 

 that the farmer's boy and the sportsman 

 are ever on the alert to kill them — are 

 very useful because they destroy vast 

 numbers of insects and harmful rodents. 



Birds occupy a unique position among 

 the enemies of insects, since their powers 

 of flight enable them at short notice to 

 gather at points where there are abnormal 

 insect outbreaks. An unusual abundance 

 of grasshoppers, for instance, in a given 

 locality soon attracts the birds from a 

 wide area, and as a rule their visits cease 

 only when there are no grasshoppers left. 

 So also a marked increase in the number 

 of small rodents in a given neighborhood 

 speedily attracts the attention of hawks 

 and owls, which, by reason of their vora- 

 cious appetites, soon produce a marked 

 diminution of the swarming foe. 



One of the most useful groups of na- 

 tive birds is the sparrow family. While 

 some of the tribe wear gay suits of many 

 hues, most of the sparrows are clad in 

 modest brown tints, and as they spend 

 much of the time in grass and weeds are 

 commonly overlooked. Unobtrusive as 

 they are, they lay the farmer under a 

 heavy debt of gratitude by their food 

 habits, since their chosen fare consists 

 largely of the seeds of weeds. Selecting 

 a typical member of the group, the tree 

 sparrow, for instance, one-fourth ounce 

 of weed seed per day is a conservative 

 estimate of the food of an adult. 



On this basis, in a large agricultural 

 State like Iowa tree sparrows annually 

 eat approximately 875 tons of weed 

 seeds. Only the farmer, upon whose 

 shoulders falls the heavy burden of free- 

 ing his land of noxious weeds, can realize 

 what this vast consumption of weed seeds 

 means in the saving and cost of labor. 



