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BIRDS. 3883 
BIRDS AND THEIR RELATON TO HORTICULTURE. 
WM. T. SHAW, ST. ANTHONY PARK, MINN. 
There, probably, is no rural occupation affected by birds to the 
same extent as horticulture. Not only are birds conspicuous in the 
spring or summer for the good or harm which they do, but also in 
fall and winter. In studying birds in this connection, we find some 
very interesting facts. 
It is a common belief that those birds which live upon insects are 
beneficial. Now,is there not room for a serious mistake here? When 
we consider the fact that many of our insects thus destroyed are 
exceedingly useful to horticulture in many ways, we see thata great 
deal of harm may be done by insectivorous birds eating such 
insects. Hence we see that in order to make a clear judgment of the 
relation which birds bear to us, we should study them from an 
entomological as well as a botanical standpoint. When studied in 
this way some surprising facts are revealed. 
Once, the appearance of a hawk or an owl was a Signal to the 
farmer to seek some means of destroying it. Now,as has been 
shown by careful dissections of very large numbers of crops and 
stomachs, there are only a few species among these predacious 
birds which are positively injurious, while by far the majority are 
of great value in killing rodents and noxious insects. The owls 
are deserving of special protection because they remain with us 
during the entire year, and also because they capture their food 
chiefly in the dusk of evening and in early dawn when many of the 
injurious rodents such as mice and hares are running about. The 
most injurious insects also fly about at this time. 
In studying some of the other families of birds we obtain various 
results. Woodpeckers, once thought to be so valuable to horticul- 
ture, are now found to be quite indifferent—some are even injurious, - 
as the yellow-bellied woodpecker, or sap-sucker; so well known by 
the peculiar manner it has of pecking holes in the bark of the trunk 
or limbs of trees. Quite frequently a perfectly healthy tree is 
selected and the bark is so punctured in order to make traps into 
which insects may collect to feed upon the sap that the growth of 
the tree is greatly retarded, and in many cases permanent injury is 
received. The work of destroying borers is carried on extensively 
by these birds, but their aid comes too late, as the damage is done 
before the insect can be reached by them. 
The English sparrow has received special attention and very care- 
ful study andhas been proved to be an enemy to horticulture. Not 
only has it been found guilty of doing damage by directly eating 
fruit of various kind, but also in destroying buds in large quantities. 
Again, we have birds of a very useful nature. The yellow-billed 
cuckoo deserves special notice, as it destroys hairy caterpillars in 
large quantities. So also is the rose-breasted grossbeak useful, as 
it destroys potato beetles. Even this bird is forced to change its 
food habits, as it was frequently observed during the past season, 
feeding upon green garden peas. Doubtless, this was owing to 
severe drouth and scarcity of other food. 
