BIRDS 



BIRDS 



509 



The blue jay (Fig. 577) has been shown by investigation to be 

 beneficial as a rule, and that, except in cases in which it is dis- 

 covered actually engaged in doing harm, it should be protected. 

 Nearly 300 stomachs showed that the real food is composed of about 

 25 per cent animal matter, and about 75 per cent vegetable matter. 

 The animal matter is.chiefly insects, with a few spiders, myriapods, 

 snails, 6sh, salamanders, tree frogs, mice, and birds. Remains of 

 birds were found in only two out of 300 examined. Only three con- 

 tained eggs of small birds. Apparently its nest-robbing propensities 

 are not so general as is supposed. In August, the percentage of 

 insects reaches 66 per cent. They prefer mast, or seeds of trees and 

 shrubs, to corn or any other vegetable food. Corn is the only vege- 

 table food of which the farmer suffers any loss, and here the damage 

 is small. The California jay is a problem. Very careful and exten- 

 sive investigations of the bird have resulted in the conviction that 

 it has many more bad qualities than good. In fact, it has few redeem- 

 ing virtues. Something may be said in his favor, from the esthetic 

 side, as he is a handsome bird, and people interested in country 

 life would no doubt miss his presence. Beal says that if they could 

 be reduced to a fourth or a half of their present numbers, the 

 remainder would probably do no serious harm. They eat very few 

 insects, and destroy many eggs and young birds. They eat grain 

 from the newly sown fields, but do not pull it up after it has 

 sprouted, so that this is of minor importance. They are insatiable 

 fruit thieves, not only eating enough for present need, but storing 

 it away for future use. 



The black-billed and yellow-billed cuckooa are valuable to the 

 forester, orchardist, and the farmer. They feed mainly on the 

 medium-sized and larger caterpillars and grasshoppers, as well as 

 many other insects. In May and June, when the tent-caterpillars 

 are defoliating forest trees, these insects constitute half of the 

 cuckoo's food. One stomach was so full that the bird had evidently 





575. Crow blackbird, or purple grackle. (Length 12 in.) 



devoured the whole tent-colony. It is impossible to over-estimate 

 the value of the cuckoo's work. The cuckoo of Europe is a bird of 

 very different habits. 



The common crow is a subject of much dispute. In a report of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, 1895, the evidence 

 for and against the crow is clearly summarized as follows: (1) 

 Crows seriously damage the corn crop and injure other farm crops, 

 usually to a less extent; (2) they are very destructive to the eggs 

 and young of domesticated fowls; (3) they do incalculable dam- 

 age to the eggs and young of other birds; (4) they do much harm by 

 the distribution of seeds of poison-ivy, poison sumach, and perhaps 

 other noxious plants; (5) they do harm by the destruction of bene- 

 ficial insects. On the other hand, they do much good: (1) By the 

 destruction of injurious insects; (2) by the destruction of mice and 

 other rodents; (3) they are valuable occasionally as scavengers. 

 On the whole, it seems that the crow is not to be encouraged, 

 although it need not be altogether exterminated. 



The bobolink does nothing but good while it is feeding the young, 

 insects forming about 85 per cent of the food. No fault can be 

 found with him in the North, although he becomes a veritable pest 

 in the South, destroying much rice. The annual slaughter of the 

 "rice^-birds" in the South accounts for the gradual decrease in num- 

 bers in New England. 



An examination of eighty-two specimens of California thrasher 

 shows thnt vegetable food exceeds the animal in the proportion 

 of 59 to 41. Since it is eminently a bird of the ground, it is sur- 

 prising to find that in addition to very many beetles, caterpillars, 

 ants and spiders, a great number of bees and wasps were found in 

 the food, also. There were many more wasps than bees. The vege- 

 table food consisted of fruit, poison-oak seeds, and miscellaneous 

 material. The thrasher must be added to the list of birds that 

 assist in the dissemination of poisonous plants. It is not probable 

 that the thrasher will ever become a resident of the orchard. 



The western tanager, like the robin, sometimes becomes a nui- 

 sance in the orchard. It breeds north of the fruit-growing sections 

 of California, but does injury to the cherry crop on its way north 

 during the migration period. The investigation of the Biological 

 Survey shows that it has a fair right to protection at the hands of 

 the farmer, and even of the orchardist. It is suggested that wild 

 cherry trees planted around cherry orchards may attract the birds 

 away from the fruit. 



The California bush-tit has been made the subject of special 



576. Kingbird. (SM in.) 



study. From 353 stomachs of bush-tits collected in every month, 

 less than 1 per cent of the food waa found to consist of Iruit, aad 

 over four-fifths consisted of insects and spiders. The largest item 

 was plant-lice, or bark-lice, or scale insects. Several stomachs 

 were entirely filled with them. The stomachs of eight nestlings 

 contained pupse of the cod- 

 lin-moth. It would prob- 

 ably be difficult to find a 

 more valuable bird than the 

 bush-tit. The birds live in 

 flocks nearly nine months 

 of the year. 



The black-headed gros- 

 beak has been the subject 

 of complaint by the Pacific 

 coast fruit-growers, for it is 

 fond of figs, cherries, and 

 berries. However, it eats 

 many insects that cost the 

 horticulturists much annoy- 

 ance. The codlin-moth, 

 canker-worm, flower-beetles, 

 and scale insects are among 

 its favorites. An examina- 

 tion of 226 stomachs, the 

 majority of which were col- 

 lected in California, shows 

 that during the six months 

 of its stay in that state the 

 bird consumes about 34 

 per cent of vegetable food, 

 and 66 per cent of animal food, with a distinct preference for the 

 black olive-scale, one of the most destructive insects of the coast. 

 This insect alone constitutes a fifth of the entire food. To put it 

 graphically, the black-headed grosbeak, for every quart of fruit 

 eaten, eats more than three pints of black olive-scales, and more 

 than a quart of flower-beetles, besides a generous supply of 

 canker-worms and pupae of codlin-moths. 



The mourning dove has scarcely an equal as a weed-eradicator. 

 The Biological Survey has shown that of 237 stomachs examined, 

 over 99 per cent of the food consisted of seeds. Wheat, oats, rye, 

 com, barley, and buckwheat, were found in 150 of the stomachs 

 and constituted about 32 per cent of the whole food. Three-fourths 

 of this however, was waste grain picked up from the fields after the 

 harvesting was over. Wheat was the favorite grain, and about the 

 only one taken when in good condition. Corn, the second in amount, 

 was damaged grain, taken after the harvest. The principal and 

 almost constant diet, however, is weed-seed eaten at all seasons, con- 

 stituting 64 per cent of the annual food-supply and showing little 

 variation in any month. Three mourning doves which were exam- 

 ined had destroyed 23,000 prospective weeds. Yet they moved 

 silently, and no one knew of their work. 



The dickcissel, or black-throated bunting, ia common in field and 

 prairie in the Middle West, where its plaintive song gives variety 

 to the silent days of July and August. Its food is more than half 

 grasshoppers and crickets, and the remainder seeds of weeds and 

 grasses. In some localities it is known as the "little meadowlark," 

 its color being like that of the meadowlark, even to the black locket 

 on a breast of brilliant yellow. 



The cardinal and his mate are indeed a conspicuous pair. They 

 are known as cardinal grosbeaks, redbirds, crested redbirds, and 

 Virginia nightingales. They are most abundant in the southern 

 United States, although frequent records show the limit of their 

 range to be approximately a line drawn from New York City west- 

 ward to southern Nebraska, and thence south to Texas. The cardi- 

 nals* food is varied, consisting of seeds of numerous plants, especi- 

 ally those of rank weeds and grasses. The large and powerful beak 

 readily breaks into large seeds, as corn, wheat, rye, and oats. It 

 eats great quantities of axlult beetles, especially rose-beetles; also 

 crickets, grasshoppers, flies and ants. It enjoys grapes, berries, 



577. Blue jay. (11H in.) 



mulberries, cedar-berries, preferring the wild varieties always. 

 These habits, added to the striking beauty of its plumage and of 

 its song, make the cardinal a great favorite. 



The mockingbird is omnivorous. While investigating the feed- 

 ing habit of this remarkable bird, Beal found that in fifty-two 

 specimens 29 per cent of the food consisted of vegetable matter, 

 of which 50 per cent was fruit. The birds' appetite for fruit and 



