222 



Nature-Study Agriculture 



Insect 

 eaters 



Destroyers 

 of weed 



W. T. Stilling 



FIG. 172. A young barn owl (also called monkey-faced owl). Remains of 

 gophers, mice, a young rabbit, and a kangaroo rat were found about its nest. 



A killdeer's stomach was found to contain three hun- 

 dred mosquito larvae. A flicker had eaten twenty-eight 

 white grubs. A nighthawk's appetite had called for 

 three hundred and forty grasshoppers, fifty-two bugs, 

 three beetles, two wasps, and a spider. Two pine sis- 

 kins whose crops were examined had been content with 

 no less than three hundred plant lice and nineteen hun- 

 dred black scale insects. 



Not only do the insect-eating birds and the birds of 

 prey that destroy small animals benefit the farmer, but 



