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CHAPTER XXI 



THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF THE RINGNECK 



In whatever part of the country the ringneck has been introduced, it 

 has almost invariably called forth a protest at first from some part of the 

 farming community by reason of its alleged destructiveness to crops. In 

 no instance, however, I believe, has this bird failed to win the friendship 

 of the majority of the farming element in any community in the end. 



In 1913 the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game of Massachusetts 

 were directed by the legislature to make an investigation of the habits of 

 pheasants with special reference to crops, planted fields and other property 

 and as to their insectivorous qualities, particularly with regard to the 

 brown- tail and gypsy moths. 



SURVIVES SEVERE TEST. In the course of this investigation the 

 Commissioners collected seventeen pheasants killed in the very act of 

 destroying farm products, and sent their stomachs to the Bureau of Biolog- 

 ical Survey, United States Department of Agriculture, for examination. 

 Following is the Bureau's report on this very severe and rather unfair test : 

 Avoiding fractions, 22 per cent, of the total food was grain, 

 including barley, wheat, oats and corn. The evidence is pretty 

 clear that all this was waste, except in the case of one bird, which 

 had fed entirely upon fresh corn, apparently taken from the ear. 

 Twenty-one per cent, of the food consisted of green and ripe toma- 

 toes, and all of this must be recorded against the birds. Twenty- 

 three per cent, consisted of weed seeds, including such pests as rag- 

 weed, burdock, foxtail and barnyard grass. Fourteen per cent, 

 consisted of the seeds of buttercup and root stocks of trillium. 

 This is of neutral import. Fifteen per cent, of the food consisted 

 of insects, mainly grasshoppers and caterpillars of hawk moths. 



The weed seeds and insects, together 37 per cent., count in the 

 pheasants' favor. The tomatoes and corn referred to above, in all 

 about 27 per cent., are against the bird. The remaining items are 

 practically neutral. 



HARMFUL INSECTS DESTROYED. The Commissioner's investi- 

 gation proved that pheasants ate in large quantities the following 

 serious pests: 



Pests of the Market Fruit Pests Tree Pests and 



Garden Codling moth, adults and Others 



Tomato or tobacco worm larvae. Tussock moth. 



(Sphinx). Apple maggot, adults and Elm-leaf beetle. 



White grub, adults and larvae. larvae. Tent caterpillar. 



