SECRETARY'S REPORT. 97 



he had rather have an owl about his haystack and nursery than 

 a cat, as he destroys more mice than one of these animals, and 

 kills no beneficial birds. 



The next family, in the regular system in which the birds are 

 arranged by our ornithologists, is that of the Cuckoos. These 

 birds, of which we have but two species, are pretty well known, 

 and their merits appreciated, although many persons have a great 

 antipathy for them, from the fact that they destroy young birds 

 and eggs. I have known of instances of their so doing, but I think, 

 that from their cowardly nature, they arc not of common occur- 

 rence. I have frequently seen the common song sparrow drive 

 one from the neighborhood of its nest, and other small birds 

 seem equally to be a match for it. Probably if the parent bird 

 were absent from the nest the cuckoo would rob it at once, but 

 if she were present he would probably not molest her. 



The cuckoos are extremely beneficial ; they destroy and eat 

 with avidity many of the caterpillars which most other species 

 reject. For instance, the cuckoo feeds largely on the caterpillar 

 of the common apple-tree moth. I have known of many in- 

 stances where a nest has been completely destroyed by this bird. 

 Probably some of the gentlemen present have observed this bird 

 standing on the silky covering for the legions within, tearing it 

 with his bill, and seizing and swallowing caterpillar after cater- 

 pillar, and even noticed him repeat his visits to the same locality 

 until the whole colony is depopulated. I am informed that the 

 canker-worm is also greedily eaten by this bird. If so, and I 

 have no doubt of the fact, he is at once established as a public 

 benefactor, for this insect has already become one of the most 

 serious scourges known to horticulturists. 



Another valuable family of birds on the farm are the Wood- 

 peckers. As is well known, they subsist principally upon the 

 larv£e of the tree-beetles or borers, which they obtain by picking 

 holes in the trunk and branches of the trees, and thrusting in 

 their long-barbed tongues and drawing the vermin from their 

 lurking-places. Some of these woodpeckers have at times been 

 regarded as injurious, from the fact that they are called, in some 

 localities, sap-suckers, from the mistaken opinion that they suck 

 the sap and eat the soft inner bark of some of the trees. One 

 species, the yellow-bellied woodpecker, in particular, has thus 

 been stigmatized, and it is of this sjiecies that I wish to speak 



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