BIKDS 



79 



up flies and mosquitoes. When darkness comes, the 

 owls and nighthawks go on duty and capture in- 

 sects of many kinds. They swoop down and catch 

 moles, meadow mice, and rats that do harm to 

 farmers' crops. 



Grosbeaks Are Friends. Grosbeaks are of such 

 particular service to the farmer that in many states 

 tliey are protected by law. The rose-breasted gros- 

 beak, or ** potato-bug '' bird makes a tenth of his 

 diet of potato beetles (Fig. 77). He also eats the 

 cucumber beetle. He is accused of eating peas, but 

 he is so useful in the garden that it is worth one's 

 trouble to put 

 netting over the 

 peas. He may also 

 be kept away by 

 a scarecrow. He 

 is very fond of 

 orchards, for can- 

 kerworms, caterpil- 

 lars, and the moths 

 and scale insects 

 that attack trees are 

 his special delight 

 at meal time. The 

 cardinal, or red-bird, 

 belongs to the gros- 

 beak family. They 

 have been accused 

 of pulling sprouting 



/fe^ 



Fig. oO. The Meadow Lark. 



