AGRICULTURAL USES OF BIRDS. 



945 



BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO (C.erythrophthalmus). 

 (Scansores.) 



In reference to the currant saw-fly worm (Nematus ventricosus], I am not certain that I 

 have seen any birds eat them, yet I think the truly insectivorous species will do this. That 

 the Baltimore oriole sometimes eats large quantities of the American tent caterpillars (Clisio- 

 campa Americana), since they have been found in the stomach of this bird, is an interesting 

 fact, for birds as a rule do not relish hairy caterpillars, 

 and the American tent caterpillar is covered with long 

 hairs, though they are not so dense as in some other larvae.&quot; 



Dr. T. M. Brewer gives the following statement: 

 &quot; The most noticeable of all the destroyers of the canker- 

 worm is the common cedar bird, which devours them to 

 an extent perfectly enormous. Next is the purple grakle, 

 which also feeds on them as long as they last. The house 

 pigeon, if in any numbers, is an invaluable bird. Among 

 the other birds, all excellent so far as they go, are the chip 

 ping sparrow, the song sparrow, the purple finch, all the 

 vireos white-eyed, red-eyed, yellow-throated, solitary, and 

 warbling the king bird, the cat bird, the downy wood 

 pecker, the summer yellow bird, Maryland yellow-throat, 

 the blue bird. The blue- jay eats their eggs in the winter; 

 so does the chickadee. The latter eats their grubs also, and 

 the worm too. The common gray creeper, which is with 

 us only in the winter, eats the eggs. 



&quot; Last summer 1 had a nest of golden-winged woodpeckers breeding on my place. Some 

 of them dug into my barn and passed the winter. Only a part of my trees were protected 

 by a belt of printers ink, a*nd some of them were partially eaten, but this winter very few 

 grubs have as yet shown themselves, and I give my friend Colaptes auratus the credit of all 

 this. I know this, I gave the young ones a lot of worms myself, and they ate them as if they 

 were used to them. The old birds were too shy to permit me to see their good deeds. 



&quot; I think the golden robin feeds its young with them as long as they last, but I am not 

 sure that they eat the tent caterpillar. I nearly forgot the two cuckoos, yellow-bill and black- 

 bill. They eat every form of caterpillar, canker worms included. I do not think the robin 

 feeds any to its young, because it would never do; they are too small, and its brood want a 

 big lot. I have known the robin to feed its young for entire days, as fast as they could 

 bring them, with the moth of the cut worm. That is about as much as we could expect any 

 bird to do at one time. At the rate they went they must have caught and given their young 

 ones about five hundred of these moths in a day. Before that I had supposed that the robin 

 did me more harm than good, but I had to give in. My indebtedness to that pair was worth 

 all the cherries I could raise in many years. So the robin and I are fast friends.&quot; 



Tabular Tiew Of Food for Birds. We must conclude, then, after careful examina 

 tion of the habits of birds and insects, that birds are of the greatest service to man; and that 

 they should be protected and encouraged in every possible way. Nevertheless, it is unde- 



% F* 



HOUSE-WBEN (T.adori). 



YELLOW-BUMPED WATSBLEB (Dendroica 

 coronata). 



niable that this rule has some exceptions; that there are some birds which are far from 

 beneficial, being, on the contrary, very injurious, not only to the interest of man, but also to 

 the well-disposed members of their own race. In short, there are robbers and cut-throats 

 among birds as well as amongst men; and it is just as sensible to pronounce the human race 

 good for nothing because of the depravity of a portion of its members as to say that birds 



