Arbor and Bird Day Bulletin 



THE VALUE OF BIRDS TO THE FARMER. 

 (Extracts from U. S. Government Bulletin) 



"A reasonable way of viewing the relation of birds to the farmer 

 is to consider birds as servants, employed to destroy weeds and 

 insects. In return for this service they should be protected, and 

 such as need it should receive a fair equivalent in the shape of fruit 

 and small grain. Nothing can be more certain than that, except in 

 a few cases, any farmer who is willing to pay the toll collected by 

 birds for actual services rendered will be vastly benefited. In the 

 long run, no part of the capital invested in farm or orchard is more 

 certain to pay a big interest than the small sum required for the care 

 and protection of birds. 



"Birds are Nature's check upon insect life. By controlling the 

 increase of certain insects they prevent the destruction of plant life, 

 and without plant life, animal life including that of man would be 

 impossible upon the earth. Each species of birds has its special 

 office. One cares for the leaves and twigs of the trees, another 

 guards the trunk and limbs from attack; still others hunt upon the 

 ground, seeking their prey beneath the fallen leaves and loose soil. 



"It has been estimated that the coddling moth spoils from 25 to 

 75 per cent, of the apple crop in the United States and Canada each 

 year. The annual loss in the United States due to this pest, including 

 the cost of efforts to control its ravages, is $15,000,000. From in- 

 vestigation in the Blue Ridge apple region of Virginia it was found 

 that 25 species of native birds ate this insect. It is believed that 

 birds destroy from 50 to 85 per cent, of the hibernating pupae. 



"A pair of nestling Wrens took more than 600 insects from a 

 garden in one day; a young Robin ate in one day 165 cutworms, or 

 one and five-sixths times its own weight; another Robin ate from 50 

 to 75 cutworms a day for fifteen days; a Yellow-throat was seen to 

 eat 89 plant lice on birches in one minute. Continuing to feed at this 

 rate for forty minutes, over 7,000 plant lice must have been eaten 

 in this time. 



"A pair of nestling Bush-tits made 43 trips an hour to their 

 young. As there were undoubtedly several insects carried each trip, 

 and as the bird's day is at least fifteen hours, they must have fed at 

 least 2,000 insects daily. The stomach of one "Bob White" quail has 

 been found to contain more than 100 potato beetles. Another had 

 eaten 500 cinch bugs. Ninety of the destructive cotton-boll weevils 

 were found in the stomachs of three Meadowlarks. A single Robin 

 had eaten 175 caterpillars. A Chicadee has been known to eat 5,000 

 eggs of the canker worm in one day. A Swallow will destroy more 

 than 1,000 flies and other winged insects every 24 hours. A pair of 

 nestling Orioles will destroy thousands of the small green cater- 

 pillars that are so destructive to the foliage of the deciduous fruit 

 trees some years in California. 



