26 



THE INDIANA WEED BOOK. 



them entirely filled with weed seeds. He 

 estimated that each bird consumed at least a 

 quarter of an ounce of such seed daily. Mak- 

 ing a fair allowance for the number of tree 

 sparrows to the square mile, he calculated 

 that in the State of Iowa the tree sparrow 

 alone destroys each winter about 1,750,000 

 pounds or 875 tons of weed seeds. In the 

 stomach of a single one of these birds was 

 found at one time 700 seeds of foxtail. 



All the sparrows deserve the especial pro- 

 tection of the farmer as they feed not only 

 upon weed seeds in autumn, winter and early 

 spring, but destroy many forms of noxious in- 

 sects in summer. Among the most numerous 

 and beneficial of the sparrows in Indiana be- 

 sides the two mentioned are the goldfinch or 

 thistle bird, the field, fox and song sparrows, 

 the chewink and cardinal or redbird, the 

 white crowned, white throated and chipping 

 sparrows, the dickcissel, grasshopper sparrow 

 and lark finch and the bay-winged and indigo 

 buntings. 



In addition to the sparrows the chief seed eating birds occur- 

 ring in the State are the mourning dove, quail, blackbirds, bobo- 

 link, cowbird and horned and meadow larks. Some of these feed 

 largely upon grain as well as weed seeds, but the good that they 

 do far outweighs the bad. No less than 50 different kinds of birds 

 act as seed destroyers. During cold weather they require an 

 abundance of food to keep their bodies warm, and it is the habit 

 of the sparrows that then flock to the weed patches to keep their 

 stomachs and gullets heaping full. In time of deep snows, when 

 the weeds are covered, many of them starve and then especially 

 can the farmer reward and protect them by scattering wheat and 

 other grain where they can easily find it. 



13. MAINTAIN THE CLEANLINESS. After a farm has once been 

 comparatively cleared of weeds it should be kept in that condition. 

 "With the proper care this can be done with little labor and small 

 cost. Meadows and grain fields should be gone over just before 

 the grass or grain is ripe and all weeds such as white-top, dock, 

 buckhorn, corn cockle, etc., pulled or cut with hoe or spud. This 

 work should be thoroughly done so as to prevent any seeds from 



Fig . 6 . Weed seeds commonly 

 eaten by birds: a, bindweed; 

 b, lamb's quarters; c, purslane; 

 d, pigweed; e, spotted spurge; 

 /, ragweed; g, foxtail; h, dande- 

 lion. (After Judd.) 



