35r, 



NEW E N G L A x\ D FARMER, 



BtAT II, 184 



THE niRDS— THE BIRRS. 



A friend says to 113 — "I observe in your paper 

 nftlie "jrih nil., a timely cull on the fanner to pro- 

 tect tlie birds. I wisli some measure could be sug- 

 gested to do this more llioroui»lily. We liave bo- 

 cieiioa f;r the suppression of horse-stealing, and 

 we frecuenlly make a common cause against the 

 robbers of our melon grounds and orchards. Why 

 not <lo the same against the more dangerous loaf- 

 ers who di-'stroy tlie natural protactors of both fieldsi 

 and orchards? At present, no man's house or per- 

 son, in the country, is safe from the intrusion of 

 these dangerous nui.-<ance3. 



" Impressed with the necessity of calling atten- 

 tion to this subject, I hastily collected some facts 

 to show the value of birds to the farmer, and had 

 them printed and distributed among my neighbors, 

 as I liopo, to some purpose. I send you a copy, 

 from which you may perhaps lliink [.it worth while 

 to make extracts. 



" If public attention is only once awakened to 

 the e.Ttent of the evil complained ofj I have no fears 

 but it will be in fome way remedied." 



Copy of the printed pamphlet above alluded to : 

 "PROTECr THE BIRDS. 



"The season is now come when the birds begin 

 their labors in our fields and orchards. Many 

 amongst us are well satistied of the usefulness of 

 these little follow-Uborers, whilst some are not 

 aware of their value and permit them to be disturb- 

 ed or destroyed. For the benefit of such, the fol- 

 lowing facts are stated, and every one is \irged, as 

 he values his fruit trees and !ooks for a plentiful 

 harvest, to extend to uie bir-la th?' protection which 

 they 90 richly merit. Let those who may still 

 doubt, compare the orchards in Medford, Ombridge, 

 &c., in June, with those in West Cambridge and 

 Lexington, where shooti.ig and bird's-nesting are 

 not permitted. Our most intelligent orchardists 

 are satisfied that the absence, in these last named 

 towns, of the canker-worm, that pest which lias 

 cost so much labor and e.xpensc, and has ruined so 

 many trees, is oiving mainly to the great number of 

 birds which breed, undisturbed, in our fields and 

 orchards. 



Let the mischievous loafers, of wliatever age, 

 size, condition, or color, who roam about our fields 

 with a musket in their hands, be dealt with accord- 

 ing to law, or driven out like vermin, and we shall 

 hear no more complaints that orchards are laid 

 waste by insects and trees destroyed by mice. 



FACTS. 

 '» The common OUckoo is almost the only bird 

 which feeds on 'iic cifterpillar : he destroys them in 

 great numbers, eating them voraciously when they 

 are full grown. The numbers of these destructive 

 insects that a few Cuckoos, with their young, will 

 di!8troy, is incredible." — Conn. Herald. 



"When the Marlins and Sivallows wero protect- 

 ed," says a Herefordshire farmer, " the hops blos- 

 somed in great beauty, and the crop was abundant, 

 wliilst there was a general failure with my neigh- 

 bors, who allowed these birds to be shot and their 

 nests destroyed." — Jesse. 



" Every Crow requires nt least one pound of 

 food a week, and nine tonthe of their food consist 

 of worms and insects ; 100 Oows then in one sea- 

 son destroy 4780 pounds of worms, insects, and 

 larva: : from this fact some slight idea may bo 

 formed of the usefulness of this niucli persecuted 

 bird, to the farmer." — Magnzine'of jVnt. Hist. 



!%( Blackbird destroys great numbers of grubs, 

 Ifc. ^-r. "Last August, I observed eight or ten 

 Blackbirds busily engaged in the grass-plat front 

 of my house, and the grass where they were, seem- 

 ed dying, as was hinted, from their inisohievous 

 operations — and the gun was suggested as the re- 

 medy. Suspecting the object of the birds' search, 

 I turned up a piece of turf with the spade, and 

 found it literally swarming with grubs of various 

 sizes. I need not say that they were allowed to 

 pursue their game undisturbed, and that the grass- 

 plat soon regained its verdure. This is another 

 instance of the utility of preserving birds on farms 

 and in orchards and gardens." — Ibid. 



"The owl renders essential service to the far- 

 mer, by destroying mice, rats, and shrews, which 

 infest houses and barns ; it also catches bats and 

 beetles. 



"To those who Bcem inclined to extirpate the 

 Blackbird, Wilson justly remarks, as a balance 

 against the damage they commit, tho service they 

 perform in tho spring season, by the immense num- 

 ber of insects and their larva- which they destroy, 

 as their principal food, and which are of kinds most 

 injurious to the husbandman. Indeed Kalin re- 

 marked, that after a great destruction made among 

 these and the common blackbird.'* for the legal re- 

 ward of three pence a dozen, tho Northern States, 

 in J749, e.xpcrienced a complete lo«s of the grass 

 and grain crops, which were now devoured by in- 

 sects." 



" Up to the time of harvest, I have uniformly, on 

 dissection, found their food to consist of these lar- 

 va', caterpillars, moths, and beetles, of which they 

 devour such numbers, that but for this providential 

 economy, the whole crop of grain, in many places, 

 would probably bo destroyed by the time it began 

 to germinate." " • "At this season, to repay 

 the gardener for the tithe of his crop, their natural 

 due, they fail not to assist in ridding his trees of 

 more deodly enemies which infest them, and the 

 small cater pillar.-i, beetles, and various insects now 

 constitute their only food ; and for hours at a time 

 they may bo seen feeding on (lie all-despoiling 

 canker-worms, which infest our apple trees and 

 elms.'" — .YuttaWs Ornithology. 



The Boblincoln is perhaps next to the Cedar 

 bird or Canada Robin, the greatest destroyer of tlie 

 canker-worm. Building her nest and rearing her 

 young under the apple trees, ns this bird often 

 does, she requires an immense number of wornu 

 for their sustenance just at the time that they are 

 most destructive. " I have observed one of these 

 birds," says a neighbor, "go round the limbs of an 

 apple tree in a spiral direction, and destroy in tliis 

 way every worm on the tree, in an incredibly small 

 time. " No man," added he, "can calculate the 

 value of birds on a farm. I have no doubt but they 

 save me equal to the labor of one man for the sea- 

 son, besides preserving my trees from destruction." 



It may be safely said, that in a country so thick- 

 ly settled as this, there are no birds, not excepting 

 the hawks and owln, but are vastly more useful 

 than injurious to man. None of them should, un- 

 der any pretence, be destroyed. 



It is not generally known, that n few only of the 

 hanks and owls destroy poultry. The rough-leg- 

 ged falcon may be observed llie whole winter long 

 seated on some small tree watching for mice, of 

 which he destroys great numbers. Those who 

 shoot him, or sutfer him to be sliot, deserve to have 

 their trees " girdled" by these vermin. 'J'he marsh 



« 



hawk, the common Harrier, and indeed all of th 

 family of birds that come so fearlessly to our fieli 

 and meadows, arc equally harmless and useful 



" entity of Preserving Birdt on Farms and 

 Orchards. — An extensive experiment appears 

 have been made in someof the agricultural 

 tricts on the continent, the result of which 

 been the opinion that farmers do wrong in deati 

 iiig rooks, jays, sparrows, and indeed birds in gei 

 ral, on their farms, particularly where there 

 orchards. That birds do mischief occasional 

 among ripe corOi there can be no doubt; but tl 

 harm they do in autumn is amply compensaleij M 

 tho good they do in spring, by the destructive haf 

 oc they make amongst the insect tribes. Tl 

 quantity of grubs destroyed by crows, and of 

 erpillars and their grubs by the vorious small bin 

 must be annually immense. Other tribes of bii 

 which feed on the wing, as swallows, swifts, 

 martins, destroy millions of winged insects, whick 

 would otherwise infest the air, and become inaa|H 

 portably troublesome. Even the titmouse and boll 

 finch, usually supposed to be so inischievonsii 

 gardens, have actually been proved only to destroy 

 those buds which contain a destructive insect. 0iu 

 nithologisls have of late delermined these fact* t| 

 be true. On some very large farms in Devonshire 

 the proprietors determined, a few summers ago, t( 

 try the result of oflering a great reward for tb( 

 heads of crows ; but the issue proved destruclin 

 to the farms, for nearly tho whole of the crops failed 

 for three succeeding years, and they hove since 

 been forced to import birds to re-slock their farmi 



" Of late years the extensive destruction ot ikc 

 foliage and young fruit trees in orchards by a spe- 

 cies of caterpillar, has ex< itcd the attention of tbc 

 naturalist, and it has been found to have nriaer 

 from the habit of destroying those small birds aboui 

 orchards, which if left unmolested, would have de- 

 stroyed or kept down these voracious insects. j/LJu 



"The splendid orchards of Mr Curtis, (propljJH, 

 tor of the celebrated Buliniicat Magazine,) of Qh-- 

 zenwood, near Coggeshall, in Essex, were It* 

 summer almost desolated by vermin of this Mit 

 There was, indeed, in Juno, scarcely one leaf led 

 on five or six hundred apple trees, so great was thf 

 destruction ; it was really quite a lamentable ob- 

 ject to sec such fine fruit trees so destroyed 

 Curtis observed that he was so convinced of thp' 

 utility of preserving the birds, from paal expW* (, 

 cnce and inquiry, that ho would not permit on«# 

 his servants so much as to scare them away,"— 

 Lond. Mag. A'at. Hist. 



A thousand more well -attested facts mighttli 

 stated to show the value of birds; but moro all 

 not necessary. Let every farmer and every Ml' 

 who is interested in the labor of the farmer, (ui 

 who is not.-) do what he can to protect them toi 

 the face of the country will no longer present tta 

 appearance of a scorched and bUs:ed wilderiMHi 

 but will preserve its beauty to the eye and lit' 

 trees will produce their "fruit in season." 



Extract from the Revised Slatutfs of MassachuMlU 

 "Section 1. If any person shall, between thi 

 first day of March and the first day of September, 

 take, kill or destroy any of the birds, called p«lV 

 ridges, or quails ; or shall, between the first day «f 

 March, and the fourth day of July, kill or destiof 

 any of the birds called woodcocks, snipes, larktW 

 robins; or shall, between the first doy of JanUUT 

 and the first day of NoTembcr, take, kill, of d» 



