INSECTS 243 



"A pair of robins are the farmer's private detectives. 

 They guard his trees twelve hours a day. Yet some farmers 

 object because robins eat cherries. It would pay every 

 farmer to plant a group of cherry trees for the robins, in order 

 to gain a band of industrious helpers all summer/' 



It is not alone the robins that are valuable to agricultural 

 interests. The following is a partial list of birds that are 

 friends to man: 



All sparrows except the English; all swallows; siskin; kill- 

 deer; flicker; nighthawk; grackle; pheasant; quail; grosbeak; 

 bluebird; nut-hatch; bluejay; thrushes; wren; catbird; war- 

 bler; meadow lark; blackbirds; oriole; cardinal; mockingbird; 

 chickadee; all woodpeckers, and many more. 



What Birds Eat. United States Farmers' Bulletin 755, 

 " Common Birds of Southeastern United States in Relation 

 to Agriculture," gives a list of 66 birds which are known 

 enemies of the cotton boll-weevil. It also says that 128 kinds 

 of birds eat wireworms, an enemy of corn. 55 species de- 

 stroy billbugs, another corn pest; 43 kinds feed upon army 

 worms ; 24 kinds eat chinch bugs ; 25 kinds are especially fond 

 of the large clover leaf hoppers. The small clover leaf wee- 

 vils furnish food for 74 species of birds. And so on through 

 the long list of insect enemies of farmers, gardeners and fruit 

 raisers. 



It is estimated that insects damage and destroy about 

 $700,000,000 of crops annually in the United States. Prob- 

 ably no one has estimated or could estimate the saving to 

 agriculture by birds feeding on bisects and weed seeds. 



Amount of Seeds Eaten. If those birds which eat 

 mainly weed seeds, each consume one-half ounce of seeds 

 daily, it is easily estimated that in a large agricultural State, 

 such as Illinois or Iowa, the annual food supply of these 

 birds would amount to hundreds of tons of weed seeds. 



Methods of Encouraging Birds. Plant shrubbery for 

 nesting places. Dense patches of brambles make good hid- 



