SUPPRESSION OF PESTS BY BIRDS McATEE. 437 



the seed began to fall. The millet was then reaped and the seed saved, but not 

 until a great quantity of it had fallen to the ground. 



All the fall and winter this seed proved a great attraction to the birds. Spar- 

 rows were almost constantly feeding in the vicinity, and the seed seemed to be 

 relished by all of them. There were probably some bushels of this seed on the 

 ground in the fall, but by spring hardly one could be found and only a very 

 few scattering plants grew there the following spring. This plant is merely a 

 cultivated variety of a common wild grass or weed, hence its attractiveness to 

 birds. 



Juncos and tree sparrows came in greatest numbers. They not only destroyed 

 the millet seed but they also found and ate practically all of the weed seeds 

 remaining. * * * Our work in conjunction with that of the birds had been 

 so efficient in exterminating the weeds that during the winter of 1901-2 it fre- 

 quently was necessary to scatter chaff and hayseed from the barn floor around 

 the dooryard to provide sufficient food for the birds. 



ATTRACTING BIRDS. 



There is no reason •why cultivators in any part of the United States 

 should not avail themselves of the advantages to be derived from an 

 increase in the number of birds. The basic principles of attracting 

 birds are simple. They include as perfect protection as possible 

 against all enemies, provision of food in the season of scarcity, of 

 nesting boxes for the species which will use them, of nesting sites 

 and even materials for the others, and of a constant supply of water 

 both for bathing and drinking in a place where the birds using it will 

 be safe. Detailed information on the subject of attracting birds 

 may be obtained from publications of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. 



SUMMARY. 



While birds may exercise a noticeable degree of control of an in- 

 jurious insect over an extensive range, actual suppression is accom- 

 plished usually only in very limited areas. 



However, as appears in the preceding pages, instances of the local 

 suppression of pests by birds are sufficiently numerous to have at- 

 tracted the attention of many observers. 



Omitting references to vertebrate and plant nuisances, the instances 

 cited relate to 32 insect pests, most of which are exceedingly injurious. 

 In more than 70 cases birds apparently exterminated one or another 

 of them locally or at least have so reduced them that no further dam- 

 age ensued. In many of these cases the saving of a crop seemed to be 

 due solely to the work of birds. It goes without saying that we have 

 accounts of only a small proportion of the instances of pest suppres- 

 sion by birds that have actually occurred, and there is no doubt that 

 the work of birds along this line has been, of great value to American 

 agriculturists. 



