What Birds Do for Us 



Up and down through the long avenues of trees he 

 erected poles from twenty to thirty feet high, and 

 from them swung gourds for the purple martins to 

 nest in, because he has found this bird his chief ally 

 in keeping down the cuculio beetle, the most de- 

 structive foe, perhaps, the fruit-grower has to fight. 

 Through its attack alone the value of a single peach 



How a successful peach grower in Georgia makes the purple 

 martins work for him 



orchard has been reduced from ten thousand dollars 

 to nothing in three weeks! The damage this little bee- 

 tle does to American fruit-growers annually amounts 

 to many millions of dollars. Just when the martins 

 return from the tropics, it is emerging from its winter 

 hibernation. And when the nuptial flight of the cur- 

 culio and the shot -hole borer and of the root -borer 

 moth occurs, it ought to be obvious to every fruit- 

 grower that he cannot have too many insectivorous 



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