The Bird and the Farmer 



By Frank M. Chapman 



In the growing of field and garden crops, of grains and vegetables, the 

 farmer produces a more artificial state of affairs than that which is occasioned 

 by the fruit-grower, or, at least, the orchardist. The nature of his crops, their 

 frequent tilling, and often early reaping, all combine to make them afford poor 

 nesting-sites, even for such birds as would be likely to select them. To most in- 

 sectivorous birds, however, areas devoted to farming purposes do not offer suit- 

 able nesting places, and it follows, therefore, that where the farmer most needs 

 the services of insect-eating birds there these birds are deprived of surroundings 

 in which they might find shelter and rear their young. 



We shall later see how, to some extent, these conditions may be remedied. 

 In the meantime we may inquire more closely into the relations of the bird and 

 the farmer. Birds are of value on the farm ( 1 ) as insect-eaters, (2) as seed- 

 eaters, (3) as mouse or rodent-eaters. Birds are injurious on the farm when 

 they attack the crops, such damage being essentially restricted to corn, rye, and 

 other grains. As in other cases, it is our object to learn what species are bene- 

 ficial and what injurious, and to determine whether the harm done by certain 

 species at certain seasons is outweighed by the good they do at other seasons. 

 ■ The value of birds as insect-eaters is so obvious it will be unnecessary to 

 dwell here on this phase of their relations to agriculture. One instance, however, 

 may be cited in which birds preserved a crop through the destruction of its 

 insect foes. It came under the observation of so excellent an authority as Prof. 

 F. E. L. Beal, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, from whose address 

 before the New Jersey State Horticuhural Society I quote as follows : "Field 

 observation and stomach examination both show that the Rose-breasted Gros- 

 beak makes the Colorado potato beetle the principal part of its food whenever it 

 can be obtained. A case which came under my own observation will show how 

 thoroughly they do their work. A small field of about a fourth of an acre was 

 visited by a pair of Grosbeaks as soon as the potatoes were fairly above the 

 ground. At first the beetles increased faster than the birds could destroy them, 

 but after the young of the birds had hatched the beetles began to diminish, and 

 by the time the young were able to fly the field was clear — not a beetle was to 

 be found." 



This illustrates also the tendency of birds to prey upon some insect which, 

 in becoming unduly abundant, oft'ers them an unusual supply of food. Birds, for 

 example, have been known to gather in great numbers to repel, as it were, an 

 invasion of grasshoppers. Quoting again from Professor Beal's address : 

 "Ground-feeding birds eat these insects at all times when they can be obtained; 



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