birds, and which is a great devourer of weed seeds and takes 

 but little grain. 



There are, of course, some bad birds, such as the sharp- 

 shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, the goshawk, and the yellow- 

 bellied woodpecker, which sucks the sap from our shade and 

 fruit trees; and, let us add, the European or English sparrow. 

 There are also some birds of doubtful utility, but take it all 

 in all, the birds, as a class, deserve our protection and the 

 evident growth of sentiment toward bird conservation as evi- 

 denced by the passage of federal and state laws, the forma- 

 tion of bird clubs, and the increase of literature upon this sub- 

 ject is an encouraging sign all indicating a growing knowl- 

 edge of the usefulness of our feathered vertebrates. 



Referring once more to individual birds, in 1,083 stomachs 

 of the red-winged blackbird examined, weed seed comprised 

 54.6 per cent of the contents, grain 13.19 per cent, grasshop- 

 pers (in August) 17 per cent, caterpillars 20 per cent in 

 March, and beetles 10 per cent. In 138 stomachs of the yel- 

 low-headed blackbird, insects comprised 33 per cent of the 

 stomach contents, weed seed 28 per cent, grain 38 per cent. 

 In the case of the crow blackbird, as a result of the examining 

 of 2,346 stomachs, it was found that insects comprise 27 per 

 cent of the food. It is to be borne in mind that nestlings of 

 all of these blackbirds are fed upon insects or insect-like ani- 

 mals. In the case of the cedar wax-wing or cherry bird, only 

 nine out of 152 stomachs (40 of which were taken in the cher- 

 ry season) contained cultivated cherries and their stomachs 

 have been found filled with canker worms. 



Inasmuch as birds collect most insects at the time they are 

 feeding their young, and since they get them as near the nest 

 as possible, making many trips each day, it behooves us to 

 encourage the nesting of birds in every possible way upon our 

 farms and near our gardens and orchards and shade trees. 



Much remains to be done yet through our teachers to reach 

 the hearts of our school boys, not naturally cruel (unless it 

 be that they pass through that stage of life and outgrow it), 

 but thoughtless, and interest them in the conservation of bird 

 life in order that they may grow up into clean sportsmen, gen- 

 tlemen in every sense of the word. Fins, Feathers and Fur. 



27 



