Birds as IVescr\ers of \^e^etation 



Jiy ].. W. i;n.wiH-ll 



It 'i> fairly safe to assert that were it not for the birds this world would very 

 shortly he entirely bereft ()f its vej^etation for it is almost certain tiiat man alone 

 without the aid of the birds could not wajje a winning war against the immense 

 armies of vegetation destroying insects. ICven with the aid of the birds the 

 insects frequently gain the upper hand and cause tremendijus loss to the agri- 

 culturist as is evidenced by the reports of Dr. Marlatt of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. In 1904 he made extensive and most careful investi- 

 gation and estimated that the loss to agriculturists, and consequently to the world, 

 for that year from insect depredations reached the grand total of .seven hundred 

 and ninety-five millions of dollars. This seems almost incredible but it was 

 thought to be a conservative estimate and the losses have increased rather than 

 decreased since then. 



Many of my readers may think that by my statement I am exaggerating 

 tlie importance of the birds as to their value to mankind, but now let us see what 

 the birds actually accomplish as insect destroyers. 



The young of the majority of our birds are fed upon insects and nothing 

 else for the first few weeks after they are hatched and many are insect eaters 

 all their lives. The young are voracious eaters and are fed by their parents 

 on an average of every five or six minutes during the day, and their day begins 

 at daylight and does not end until dark. At each visit of the old binls they 

 bring from one to a dozen insects and this does not take into consideration those 

 that they eat in the meantime. Thus it will I)e seen that a single family of birds 

 will consume several hundred insects in a day. In fact it has been estimated 

 by careful observation that a family of young birds will destroy from five to 

 twelve hundred insects daily. Besides the actual insects themselves many birds 

 destroy great masses of insect eggs often reaching into the thousands in a day. 

 When we think of the really great army of birds that are being reared, and inci- 

 dentally fed. at the same time throughout the country we can gain some idea 

 of the stupendous number of insects that are daily destroyed by them. 



These facts, taken into conjunction with the facts concerning the destruction 

 done by the insects in' spite of the birds, will serve to show us what would 

 inevitably happen if we did not have the birds to hold the insects in check. 



To offset the good that they do a few birds on the farm may eat a few 

 cherries or berries, but can we not well afford to pay this small price for the inesti- 

 mable services which they perform for us? 



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