CHAPTER IX 



FRIENDS AMONG THE BIRDS AS DESTROYERS 

 OF RODENT PESTS 



Harm done by rodents. Another enemy of the 

 farmer is the group of animals called rodents, such 

 as mice, rats, ground squirrels, and rabbits, which 

 destroy crops. The ground squirrels damage grain 

 and forage crops to the extent of many millions of 

 dollars annually; and it is known that they carry 

 the germs of bubonic plague. The leopard ground 

 squirrel, found in the western United States, digs 

 up newly planted corn, and eats clover and alfalfa. 

 The gray ground squirrel, found in the Dakotas and 

 the neighboring States, feeds upon young chickens. 

 Some squirrels destroy eggs of valuable birds. In the 

 Middle West, the prairie dogs cause great damage by 

 feeding on grains, and their burrows and hillocks are 

 troublesome. Rats and mice are the most harmful 

 rodent pests found on the farm. They eat almost 

 any vegetable or gram crop and girdle fruit-trees. 

 The rat carries disease-germs, being especially con- 

 nected with the transmission of bubonic plague. 

 The meadow mouse destroys meadows by tunneling 

 under them and eating the roots of grass. 



Rabbits, on account of then* size and abundance, 



