79 



ularly the young, consume more than their own weight of insect 

 food daily, and that it is not unusual for a pair of birds and their 

 young to dispose of from 300 to 1,000 insects a day. If they 

 feed on minute or newly hatched insects, the number may be 

 far greater. Dr. Brewer's calculation that a family of jays will 

 consume a million caterpillars in a season may be an exaggera- 

 tion, but it shows what an impression the study of this bird's 

 food habits left on his mind. I have given much attention to 

 this subject and have written more fully on it elsewhere.^ 



Various estimates regarding the number of insects killed by 

 birds in different States have been made. Reed calculates that 

 the birds of Massachusetts destroy 21,000 bushels of insects 

 daily from May to September.^ A Nebraska naturalist has 

 estimated that the birds of that State eat 170 carloads of insects 

 per day, and it has been calculated that the birds of New York 

 destroy more than 3,000,000 bushels of noxious insects each 

 season. These figures may be wide of the actual numbers but 

 they are based on known facts. 



Birds save Trees and Crops from Destruction. 



I have noted many instances where birds have saved trees 

 and crops from destruction by insects, and many where the de- 

 struction of birds has been followed by a great increase of insect 

 pests. ^ In 1894, a year of insect abundance, I succeeded in pro- 

 tecting an orchard in Medford, by attracting birds, thereby 

 securing the only full apple crop in town that year, while my 

 nearest neighbor got a partial crop as a result of my experiment.* 

 Baron Hans von Berlepsch kept his forest in fine condition by 

 attracting and protecting birds on his large estate Seebach, in 

 Angensalza, Thuringia, Ger., at a time when all the other trees of 

 the countryside were stripped bare by caterpillars. The bene- 

 ficial effect produced by the birds extended for a quarter of a 

 mile beyond his boundaries. The baron does not tolerate a cat 

 outside the buildings.^ 



Bobwhites have been more numerous on my place this summer 

 (1915) than for many years. They have frequented the potato 

 patch, and for the first time in years it has not been necessary 

 to spray for potato beetles. I have recently received the crop 



1 Useful Birds and their Protection, published by Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1907, 

 pp. 41-63, 153, 154, 162. 



• Reed, Chester A.: Introduction to the Bird Guide, 1905. 



• Useful Birds and their Protection, published by the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 

 pp. 63, 76. 



• Birds as Protectors of Orchards, annual report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 

 1895, pp. 347-362. 



• Heisemann, Martin: How to attract and protect Wild Birds, 1912, pp. 50, 51. 



