ECONOMIC VALUE OF OUR BIRDS 53 



of $12,000,000 in the annual crop from insect 

 ravages that could not be prevented. 



Now, in view of the foregoing, is it, or is it not, 

 worth while for serious-minded men to do their 

 very utmost, continuously, to protect from foolish 

 and brutal slaughter man's only allies in the insect 

 war, the insect-eating birds? Let us see what we 

 have to gain by such protection. 



Fortunately for the producers and consumers of 

 the United States, our Department of Agriculture 

 has made thorough and exhaustive investigations 

 into the food-habits of our insect-eating birds, and 

 the results are available to the world. These 

 results have been obtained by collecting a large 

 series of specimens of each bird species investigated, 

 covering the entire year, and carefully examining 

 the contents of each stomach. 



There is one important factor, however, that 

 those investigations have not taken into account, 

 and that is, the enormous number of insects, or ra- 

 ther of insect larvce, that are consumed by each 

 nesting pair of birds in rearing its young. Each 

 pair of insectivorous birds that breeds in our coun- 

 try gives "hostages to fortune" in the shape of an 

 ever hungry nestful of young birds. Irrevocably 

 it commits itself to a line of activities in insect de- 

 struction that is almost beyond belief. It is no 

 uncommon thing for a pair of perching birds to 

 bring insect food to their young 100, 200 or even 

 250 times in a day. Fortunate indeed is the farmer 



