CHILDREN'S GARDENS 



food is of most nutritive value, and most easily 

 digested. It has been found that nestlings in- 

 crease in weight from twenty to fifty per cent 

 daily. At certain stages they require more than 

 their own weight in insects every day. The food 

 must be capable of rapid digestion, and readily 

 obtainable. Spiders, grasshoppers, crickets, and 

 caterpillars are the favorite food of the nestling 

 of passeres or song-birds. Vegetarian birds, as 

 the Crow, Catbird, Robin, Cedar-Bird, and Eng- 

 lish Sparrow, mingle fruit or grain in constantly 

 increasing quantities with insect food. The hard 

 beetles, dung-beetles, May-beetles, and weevils 

 are substituted for the soft insects of the perch- 

 ing birds. 



The amount of food required demands unre- 

 mitting zeal on the part of the parents. The 

 destruction of injurious insects is enormous, and 

 results in the check of their increase. 



One-tenth of the agricultural product of the 

 United States is annually destroyed by the rav- 

 ages of insects. To this must be added that 

 caused by small rodents and harmful weeds. 

 Mechanical and chemical aids are a necessity, 

 but birds offer the simplest and least expensive 

 help. These enemies of injurious insects are 

 ever watchful, day and night, and deserve the 

 greatest appreciation and protection. 



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