No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xxv 



Protection and Value of Insectivorous Birds. 

 The Board believes in the great, almost invaluable, ser- 

 vices of the insectivorous birds, and therefore in the list of 

 subjects at the last winter meeting we placed the subject of 

 "Birds useful to ao-riculture " first in the list. Desiring 

 definite data as to the value of birds as insect destroyers, we 

 asked the ornithologist of the Board, Mr. E. II. Forbush, to 

 give us reliable information on this point, and insert his re- 

 port, as follows : — 



Fletcher, the greatest of Canadian economic entomologists, has 

 estimated that one-tenth of the value of all the agricultural products 

 of the United States is 3'early sacrificed to insects. Therefore, 

 taking the figures of the last census, three hundred and eiglity 

 million dollars is thus wasted annually. In view of such state- 

 ments as this from conservative authorities, any promising means 

 of reducing this appalling waste should command the attention of 

 intelligent agriculturists everywhere. In this connection it may 

 be safely asserted that too much attention is paid to the possi- 

 bilities of costly artificial remedies, such as mechanical appliances 

 and mineral poisons, and not enough to the valuable and inexpen- 

 sive services rendered by the natural enemies of insects, especially 

 the birds. Birds fitted by nature to pursue and devour these pests 

 are also blest with phenomenal appetites, and require an enormous 

 quantity of insect food. A woodcock has been known, says 

 Audubon, to eat its own weight of insects- in a night. The num- 

 ber of caterpillars that certain birds have been observed to eat 

 within an hour almost passes belief. The young of our smaller 

 birds, reared as they are at a time when insects are multiplying, 

 require a great amount of insect food. A young crow required 

 8 to 10 ounces of food dail}^ to promote its growth. Digestion in 

 young birds requires only half an hour to an hour and a half, and 

 their stomachs must be filled often, lest they pine and die. A 

 3'oung robin fed by Professor Treadwell ate 41 per cent more than 

 its own weight in worms in twelve hours, requiring this amount, 

 or about its own weight in beef, daily for its sustenance. Pro- 

 fessor AVood states that the daily food of the robin is equivalent 

 to an earth worm 14 feet in length. 



The young while they are in the nest, and later when they first 

 take wing, require the same parental care. One Inmdred and 

 twenty-five visits were made to ji vireo's young in ten hours by 

 the parent birds. Nearly 200 visits were made to the nest by a 



