COMMON BIRDS OF TOWN AND COUNTRY T 
time—are not content to fill their stom- 
achs with insects or seeds, but after the 
stomach is stuffed until it will hold no 
more continue to eat till the crop or gullet 
also is crammed. It is often the case that 
when the stomach is opened and the con- 
tents piled up the pile is two or three 
times as large as the stomach was when 
filled. Birds may truly be said to have 
healthy appetites. To show the astonish- 
ing capacity of birds’ stomachs and to re- 
veal the extent to which man is indebted 
to birds for the destruction of noxious 
insects, the following facts are given as 
learned by stomach examinations made 
by assistants of the Biological Survey: 
A tree swallow’s stomach was found 
to contain 40 entire chinch-bugs and frag- 
ments of many others, besides 10 other 
species of insects. A bank swallow in 
Texas devoured 68 cotton-boll weevils, 
one of the worst insect pests that ever 
invaded the United States; and 35 cliff 
swallows had taken an average of 18 boll 
weevils each. Two stomachs of pine 
siskins from Haywards, Cal., contained 
1,900 black olive scales and 300 plant lice. 
A killdeer’s stomach taken in November 
in Texas contained over 300 mosquito 
larve. 
A flicker’s stomach held 28 white 
grubs. A nighthawk’s stomach collected 
in Kentucky contained 34 May beetles, 
the adult form of white grubs. Another 
nighthawk, from New York, had eaten 
24 clover-leaf weevils and 375 ants. Still 
another nighthawk had eaten 340 grass- 
hoppers, 52 bugs, 3 beetles, 2 wasps, and 
a spider. A _ boat-tailed grackle from 
Texas had eaten at one meal about 100 
cotton bollworms, besides a few other 
insects. A ring-necked pheasant’s crop 
from Washington contained 8,000 seeds 
of chickweed and a dandelion head. 
More than 72,000 seeds have been found 
in a single duck stomach taken in Lou- 
isiana in February. 
A knowledge of his bird friends and 
enemies, therefore, is doubly important 
to the farmer and orchardist in order 
that he may protect the kinds that earn 
protection by their services and may 
drive away or destroy the others. At the 
present time many kinds of useful birds 
need direct intervention in their behalf 
as never before. The encroachments of 
~ 
civilization on timbered tracts and the 
methods of modern intensive cultivation 
by destroying or restricting breeding 
grounds of birds tend to diminish their 
ranks. The number of insect pests, on 
the other hand, is all the time increasing 
by leaps and bounds through importations 
from abroad and by migration from ad- 
joining territories. Every effort, there- 
fore, should be made to augment the 
numbers of our useful birds by protect- 
ing them from their enemies, by provid- 
ing nesting facilities, and by furnishing 
them food in times of stress. 
One of the worst foes of our native birds 
is the house cat, and probably none of 
our native wild animals destroys as many 
birds on the farm, particularly fledglings, 
as cats. The household pet is by no means 
blameless in this respect, for the bird- 
hunting instinct is strong, even in the 
well-fed tabby; but much of the loss of 
our feathered life is attributable to the 
half-starved stray, which in summer is as 
much at home in the groves and fields as 
the birds themselves. Forced to forage 
for their own livelihood, these animals, 
which are almost as wild as the ancestral 
wildcat, inflict an appalling loss on our 
feathered allies, and even on the smaller 
game birds, like the woodcock and bob- 
white. If cats are to find place in the 
farmer’s household, every effort should 
be made by carefully feeding and watch- 
ing them to insure the safety of the birds. 
The cat without a home should be merci- 
fully put out of the way. 
In the following pages our commoner 
birds are discussed, including some that 
are destructive. They inhabit various 
parts of the country, and it is to the in- 
terest of the farmers of the respective 
localities to be familiar with them. 
A colored illustration of each species 
by the well-known artist, Louis Agassiz 
Fuertes, is given, so as to enable the 
reader to identify the bird at a glance and 
to permit the descriptive text, at best an 
unsatisfactory method of identification, 
to be cut down or altogether dispensed 
with. The accounts of the birds’ habits 
are necessarily brief, but they are believed 
to be sufficient to acquaint the reader with 
the most prominent characteristic of the 
several species, at least from the stand- 
point of their relation to man. 
