THE EUROPEAN SPARROW 



405 



Birds of Doubtful Utility. We have already mentioned the 

 cat-bird, whose usefulness is sometimes questioned. The crow 

 and various blackbirds are placed here, for they will, at times, 

 call for radical treatment. We have seen both crows and black- 

 birds hunting grasshoppers in the stubble fields, and both are 

 known to eat other insects. But their food habits are such as to 

 make their constant protection undesirable. When necessary, the 

 farmer should not hesitate to resort to extreme measures to pro- 

 tect his crop. Crows, it should be noted, are fond of field mice. 



FIG. 397. Flicker, golden-winged woodpecker, or yellow-hammer. (U. S. Biol. Survey.) 



Like the crow, our blue jay sometimes robs birds' nests of both 

 eggs and young birds. However, since he is something of an 

 insect eater and only occasionally resorts to corn or other grain, 

 it would be hardly just to make war upon him. The belted king- 

 fisher, as before intimated, certainly belongs in the category of 

 birds of doubtful utility. 



The European Sparrow is a great nuisance, as we all know. 

 From the farmer's standpoint, he is an undesirable citizen in every 



