WHAT IS A BIRD FAMILY 3 
I shall often speak of what has been found out 
about the food of birds, and I want to tell you 
here, once for all, how it was done, so that you 
may understand just what I mean when I speak 
of the work of the Department of Agriculture. 
The Government of the United States has in 
Washington a department with a head and many 
men under him, whose business it is to take 
charge of everything concerning agriculture, 
that is, farming, fruit-growing, etc. This 1s 
called the Department of Agriculture. 
Farmers and fruit-growers made so much com- 
plaint of the damage done to crops by birds, 
that this department determined to find out Just 
what birds do eat. The only way it could be 
done was by having the birds killed and seeing 
what food was in their stomachs, for it 1s almost 
impossible to tell by watching them. To know 
positively which birds do harm by eating more 
grain or fruit than insects, and which do good 
by eating more insects, would save the lives of 
many thousands. So the killing of those they 
studied was useful to the whole race. 
When they wanted to find out what crows eat, 
they had crows killed all over the country — 
hundreds of them — and the stomachs, with the 
food in, sent to them in Washington. Then they 
went to work and examined every one. They 
