298 FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



With these and other charges the sparrows stand indicted ; 

 and they have comparatively little good to counterbalance 

 the evil. Consequently, it would seem that they should 

 not be encouraged near farm buildings. 



BLUEBIRDS, ROBINS, AND CATBIRDS 



Next to the sparrow, the Bluebird is one of the most 

 abundant species found in gardens and cultivated fields. 

 Fortunately, this universal favorite is as useful as it is beau- 

 tiful. Its food has been most carefully studied by Profes- 

 sor S. A. Forbes, who writes : " One hundred bluebirds at 

 thirty insects each a day would eat in eight months about 

 730,000 insects. If this number of birds were destroyed, 

 the result would be the preservation on the area supervised 

 by them of about 70,000 moths and caterpillars (many of 

 them cutworms), 12,000 leaf hoppers, 10,000 curculios, and 

 65,000 crickets, locusts, and grasshoppers. How this 

 frightful horde of marauders would busy itself if left un- 

 molested no one can doubt. It would eat grass and clover 

 and corn and cabbage, inflicting an immense injury itself 

 and leaving a progeny that would multiply that injury 

 indefinitely." 



The Robin is very useful in destroying insects that live 

 on or in the ground. It feeds freely upon such pests as 

 cutworms, white grubs, and grasshoppers. It is especially 

 busy in meadows when it first arrives in early spring. 



The food of the Robin as determined by the investiga- 

 tions of the United States Department of Agriculture has 

 been summarized as follows : " An examination of 300 

 stomachs shows that over 42 per cent of its food is animal 

 matter, principally insects, while the remainder is made 

 up largely of small fruits or berries. Over 19 per cent 



