126 HIS RELATIONS WITH US 
never forget that they have earned, by their 
work among the worms, all they can take. 
I say this, not merely because I love the birds, 
and want to have them live and be happy, but 
because it is true. It has been proved true by 
scientific men in the service of the United States 
government. 
These men have had thousands of birds killed 
to see what they were eating; and they have 
found out that nearly every bird they have exam- 
ined — blackbirds, cedar-birds, blue jays, hawks, 
owls, even crows — do us more good by the in- 
jurious creatures they destroy, than harm by the 
fruits and vegetables they eat. To this there 
is, among the small birds, but one exception, the 
English sparrow, and, of the large ones, only the 
two hawks and one owl, mentioned on page 53. 
Chickadees like to eat the eggs of canker- 
worms ; and for a single meal, one of these tiny 
birds will eat two hundred and fifty eggs, and 
he will take several meals a day. Now canker- 
worms destroy our apples. When they get into 
an orchard in force, it looks, as Miss Merriam 
says, as if it had been burned over. 
Robins, catbirds, and shrikes, and several oth- 
ers, like to eat cutworms, which destroy grass 
and other plants. As many as three hundred of 
them have been found in the stomach of one 
