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LESSON LXXXV 

 THE VALUE OF BIRDS TO AGRICULTURE 



Bird life. We can not be long upon the farm in 

 June without noting the joyous life of the birds. They 

 are busy from dawn to dark, building their nests and 

 feeding their nestlings. Nothing disturbs them except 

 the heartless cat and the occasional thoughtless boy, who 

 has not yet learned the great service the birds render 

 to the farmer. The native birds are one of the nation's 

 most valuable assets. If the birds were destroyed, in a 

 very few years the insects would have multiplied to such 

 an extent that our trees would be defoliated, and our 

 crops destroyed. This is not fancy, but plain facts. 



Birds and insects. It has been found by observa- 

 tion and dissection that a Cuckoo consumes daily from 

 50 to 400 caterpillars, and that a Chickadee will eat from 

 200 to 500 insects or up to 4000 insect eggs. One hun- 

 dred insects a day is a small estimate of the quantity 

 consumed by insect eating birds, and most of our birds 

 are insect eaters. Not only do they destroy great num- 

 bers of insects, but they eat great quantities of weed 

 seeds as well. The State of Illinois loses annually about 

 $20,000,000 by the ravages of insects. 



It is the duty, and it should be the pleasure, of 

 every citizen to do all in his power to protect these val- 

 uable birds, and to encourage them to remain about our 

 homes. 



