OTHER ANIMALS 639 



fruits, and in some regions the damage to fruit as the result of its 

 attacks is considerable. 



There is yet another field for the exercise of this pest's pernicious 

 activity. Its aggressive and meddlesome disposition and its habit of 

 acting in concert enables it to overpower and drive away many of our 

 native birds, which before its advent were as numerous about dwell- 

 ings as they were welcome. 



The house wren, the bluebird, the phcebe, and certain swallows 

 are the chief sufferers from the aggressive warfare waged by the 

 sparrow. Even that excellent fighter, the purple martin, is unable to 

 long resist the persistent attacks of a united colony of sparrows, since, 

 when unable to overcome the martin in open warfare, the sparrows 

 enter the nests during the absence of the owners, kill the helpless 

 young, and pitch put the eggs. The result is that not only are the 

 above-named species and other small birds driven away from the 

 localities they used to inhabit, but their numbers have steadily dimin- 

 ished and must continue to do so because of their inability to find 

 other suitable breeding places. Thus the sparrow has usurped the 

 places about our homes by right belonging to our own birds, and its 

 increase has been at the expense of native American species, with the 

 result that a number of highly important useful species have been re- 

 placed over large areas by a single destructive one. Not only should 

 all aid and comfort be withheld from this foreign invader, but a con- 

 certed effort should be made to reduce its numbers and to exter- 

 minate it wherever and whenever possible. 



Cranes and Herons. Some of our birds are neither insect eaters 

 nor vegetable eaters. Some of the hawks, and owls, as is well known, 

 live chiefly upon flesh, while the cranes, herons, storks, and king- 

 fishers live largely upon fish, crustaceans, and frogs. By eating small 

 fish which are the fry of valuable kinds or serve as their food, these 

 birds do more or less harm, as the fish breeder, whose ponds are in- 

 vaded, knows well enough. So also their habit of eating frogs is in- 

 jurious. 



But while thus injurious to some extent in certain localities 

 where their pernicious activity may necessitate reprisals, cranes and 

 herons do good service in the destruction of small rodents, especially 

 meadow mice and pocket gophers. As in other cases the relation of 

 these birds to the community varies according to circumstances, and 

 they are to be dealt with accordingly, bearing in mind, so far as pos- 

 sible, the good to the community as a whole and not solely individual 

 interests. 



IMPORTANCE OP BIRDS AS DESTROYERS OP INSECTS. 



Prom the foregoing it will be seen that the benefits the farmer 

 derives from birds far outweigh the occasional damage they do. Not- 

 withstanding this, the public, as a rule, is much more alive to the 

 depredations of birds than to the benefits that accrue from them. 

 Nor is this surprising, since the disastrous effect* of a raid on sprout- 

 ing corn by crows, or upon ripening cherries by robin.s and cedar 

 birds, are too apparent to be overlooked, and the resulting loss can bo 

 estimated in dollars and cents. Not so the benefits. Occasionally, 



