114 BIRD FRIENDS 



amount of good done is of such tremendous impor- 

 tance that the birds stand out as one of man's 

 greatest friends, both in adding to the pleasure of 

 living arid in aiding man to raise those crops on 

 which his very existence depends. 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman, the well-known bird 

 authority, writes in his "Handbook of Birds": 



The more we learn of the food habits of birds, the greater 

 becomes the realization of our indebtedness to them, and 

 economic ornithologists now agree that, without the serv- 

 ices rendered by birds, the ravages of the animals they 

 prey upon would render the earth uninhabitable. 



Mr. H. W. Henshaw, chief of the Bureau of Bio- 

 logical Survey, writes in an article published in the 

 " National Geographic Magazine ": 



What would happen were birds exterminated no one 

 can foretell with absolute certainty, but it is more than 

 likely nay, it is almost certain that within a limited 

 time not only would successful agriculture become im- 

 possible, but the destruction of the greater part of vege- 

 tation would follow. It is believed that a permanent 

 reduction in the numbers of our birds, even if no species 

 are exterminated, will inevitably be followed by disas- 

 trous consequences. 



The food habits of a few common birds are briefly 

 summarized in the following table, which is based 

 on the reports of the Bureau of Biological Survey. 

 In putting down the amount of grain eaten, the per 

 cent of waste grain has been subtracted from the 

 total per cent of grain eaten, thus leaving only 



