ENEMIES OF PLANTS, 315 



seed that was not covcm-ccI. 'I'lic song-sparrow 

 and several others scratch up mucli l)iiried seed. 

 No less than lift)- different birds act as weed 

 destroyers, and llu- noxious plants which they 

 help to eradicate nuniher more- than threescore 

 species. Some, the blackbirds, the bobolink, 

 the dove, and the English sparrow, in spite of 

 their grain-eating proclivities, do much good by 

 consuming large quantities of weed seed. 

 Horned larks, cowljirds, shore-larks, and gros- 

 beaks also render considerable service, wdiile the 

 meadow'-lark is even more beneficial. The 

 " quail as an enemy of insect pests and destroyer 

 of weed seed has few equals on the farm. 

 Goldhnches destroy weeds not touched by other 

 birds, confining their attacks chiefly to one 

 group of plants (the Compositae), man\- of the 

 members of which are serious pests. But the 

 birds which accomplish most as weed destroyers 

 are the score or more of native sparrows that 

 flock to the weed patches in early autumn and 

 remain until late spring. Because of their gre- 

 garious and terrestial habits, they are efficient 

 consumers of the seeds of ragweed, pigeon-grass, 

 crab-grass, bindw^eed, purslane, smartweed, and 

 pigweed (Fig. io6). In short, these birds are 

 little w^eeders whose work is seldom noted, 1)ut 

 always felt." "* 



* Quoted from the Year-book, 189S : " Birds as W'eed Destroy- 

 ers." 



