BIRDS OF NEW YORK 45 



mergansers are of no value, but their depredations are chiefly confined 

 to larger lakes and rivers. The Great blue heron and Kingfisher are the 

 only ones that are especially destructive to brook trout culture throughout 

 the State. Frogs, which should be ranked as mostly beneficial animals, 

 are destroyed in great numbers by all the heron family, and especially 

 by the bitterns as well as to some extent by the ducks and geese and even 

 by the shore birds, crows and grackles. The Broad-winged hawk and 

 Red-shouldered hawk, though mainly beneficial, are especially destructive 

 to frogs, capturing them in great numbers during the spring when the 

 frogs are in their spawning pools. 



Destruction of trees and timber. There is only one New York species 

 that can be branded as a serious destroyer of trees. This is the Yellow- 

 bellied sapsucker. I have noticed many specimens of Scotch pines, spruces, 

 mountain ashes and birch trees that were so girdled by this sapsucker 

 that their life was finally destroyed, and innumerable specimens of wood 

 that showed the scars due to holes bored by the sapsucker which had been 

 grown over but still left knots and shaky spots in the wood. Fortunately, 

 this woodpecker also does a great deal of good during a large portion of 

 the year, but in parks, dooryards and nurseries where his attack is concen- 

 trated upon valuable trees he must be considered an injurious species 

 and not to be protected. 



Destruction of beneficial insects. As has been stated already, insects 

 must be regarded as the principal food of our native birds, but it must not 

 be supposed that all the insects destroyed are injurious species. As every 

 one knows, the ichneumon flies are examples of a large number of parasitic 

 hymenoptera which lay their eggs on caterpillars or other leaf -eating insects, 

 thereby destroying them and preventing their increase. There is also 

 a large number of ground beetles and tiger beetles which are predaceous 

 in habits and destroy the vegetable-feeding species. There are also the 

 lady beetles or ladybirds that feed to a great extent on scales and plant 

 lice and many other insects beneficial in various ways, even the despised 

 earthworm or angleworm being extremely beneficial to agricultural interests, 



