300 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



of annual weeds, which, of course, are killed by frost and must 

 depend for perpetuation solely upon seeds. The principal 

 weeds which birds prevent from spreading are ragweed, 

 pigeon grass, smartweed, bindweed, crab grass, lamb's-quar- 

 ters, and pigweed." 



After a full discussion of what birds are to be considered 

 as weed destroyers and the good that is accomplished by 

 them, Dr. Judd closes his summary of the subject by saying, 

 "The birds which accomplish the most as weed destroyers are 

 the score or more of native sparrows that flock to the weed 

 patches in early autumn and remain until late in the spring. 

 During cold weather they require an abundance of food to keep 

 their bodies warm, and it is their habit to keep their stomachs 

 and gullets heaping full. Often one of these birds is found to 

 have eaten 300 seeds of pigeon grass or 500 seeds of lamb's- 

 quarters or pigweed. Because of their gregarious and ter- 

 restial habits, they are efficient consumers of seeds of rag- 

 weed, pigeon grass, crab grass, bindweed, purslane, smartweed 

 and pigweed. In short, these birds are little weeders whose 

 work is seldom, but always felt." 



Reference to the photogravures, "A Lesson in Weed Des- 

 truction," from photographs made by my friend, Benjamin 

 W. Douglass, shows better than pen can tell, how effectively 

 the seed-eating birds do their work. 



In addition to their great usefulness as weed seed 

 destroyers, the family Fringillidse do much good in destroying 

 injurious insects. Weed and Dearborn in their summary of 

 the economic value of birds say: "The most striking par- 

 ticulars brought out by a study of their diet are the enormous 

 amounts of weed seed taken during winter and the extent to 

 which these so-called seed-eaters take insect food in spring 

 and summer, especially in the presence of an unusual abund- 

 ance of edible species. For example, in an orchard infested 

 by canker-worms forty-seven members of this family had 

 eaten ninety-one per cent, of insects and only seven per cent, 

 of seeds, canker worms alone making forty per cent, of the 

 food." 



The rapidity with which the insect pests increase and 

 the destructive powers with which they are possessed is 



