946 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



are useless because a few species are inclined to wrong-doing. The following table will give 

 an idea of the food of some of the more common birds, and will serve as a ready means 

 of distinguishing the injurious from the beneficial species: 



ORDER Raptores (Robbers). Falconidce, Hawks, subsist on small birds and animals, and poultry; 

 Strigidce, Owls, mice, reptiles, insects, and a few small birds. 



ORDER Scansores (Climbers). Ouculidce, Cuckoos, caterpillars 

 and other tree-insects, and a few eggs of other birds ; Picidai, Wood 

 peckers, insects (a very beneficial family). 



ORDER Insessores (Perchers.) Trocilidce, Humming-birds, in 

 sects; Cypselidce, Swifts, all kinds of winged insects; Caprimulgidm, 

 Whippporwills and Night-hawks, night-flying Lepidoptera (very 

 beneficial); Alcedinidce, Kingfishers, fish; Colopteridce, Flycatchers, 

 flies and other winged insects ; Turdidce, Thrushes, insects and a few 

 small fruits and berries ; Haxicolidce, Bluebirds, insects; Sylviid^Wood- 

 inhabiters, insects; Paridcp-, Titmice and Nuthatches, insects and 

 their eggs ; C erthi adce, Creepers, insects ; Troglodytidce, Wrens, insects ; 

 Sylvicolidce, Warblers, insects and the seeds of weeds and grasses; 

 Hirundinidce, Swallows, all kinds of winged insects; Bombydllida;, 

 Chatterers, various insects and cherries; Laniidce, Yireos and Butcher 

 birds, insects and small birds respectively; PringiUidae, Seed-eaters, 

 various seeds, fruits, and some insects; Icteridce, Starlings, Orioles, 

 and Blackbirds, grains and other seeds, various tree insects ; CormdcK, 

 Crows and Jays, eggs and young of small birds, a few insects, corn, 

 and other grain. 



ORDER Rasores (Scratchers). Columbidce, Doves, berries, nuts, 

 TITMICE. and seeds; TelraonidcK, Grouse, various seeds, insects, and berries; 



Perdicidai, Partridges, seeds, berries, and a few insects. 



ORDER Orallatores (Waders). Ardeidce, Herons, fish, frogs, mice, and insects; CliaradridcB, 

 Plovers, Aquatic insects; Seolopacidm, Snipes, worms, larvse of insects, and grasshoppers; Paludicolm, 

 Rails, various insects and waterworms. 



Decrease in Number of Birds. &quot; It is a mournful fact of history that during the 

 past few years there has been a steady decrease in the number of our native birds in all parts 

 of the country where man has formed his settlements. To account for this fact is easy. 

 Man enters the forests which for hundreds of years have been the undisturbed nursery of 

 birds. He cuts down the trees in which for centuries they have reared their young. He 

 brings with him his gun; and, as long as there are any grouse or other game-birds in the 

 neighborhood, the sharp report and murderous fire are his daily greeting to the wild 

 creatures of the wood. He dams the streams, and turns them aside, and uses their power 

 to destroy the forests on their banks. His snares are set in the valleys, and his traps on the 

 hilltop. His children search the wood for birds eggs and bring them home to be admired a 

 moment as playthings, without a thought of the happy homes they have destroyed for 



RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



(Agelaius pfueniceus). 



BLUE-JAY (C. cristata). 



the sake of a moment s pleasure. In short, man has soon taught the creatures, who 

 scarcely feared him at first, that he is a monster to be dreaded, who will give them 

 no rest nor peace. Thus it happens that, as the centuries roll on, one species after another 

 grows more and more scarce, or becomes altogether extinct; and in their loss the world loses 

 more than at the death of the last representative of a long line of imperial princes. 



