INSECTS 245 



very liable to be broken up by prowling bird dogs, or worth- 

 less curs, which eat the eggs. 



Hunters often shoot useful birds merely for the sake of 

 killing something. Of course all the game birds which are 

 bagged by hunters are a direct loss to the farmers, as they 

 have just that many less friends who would help them in 

 destroying insect and weed enemies. 



EXERCISE. Count the number of cats in your school 

 district. Estimate the loss to the farmers if each cat destroys 

 five nests each year for five years. 



Let each pupil make a bird house and put it up in the 

 school yard or at home. 



Report on watering places for birds in the locality, either 

 natural or artificial. Suggest schemes for watering the birds. 



Have pupils observe the habits of birds and report on 

 such things as feeding, watering, nest building materials, and 

 nesting locations. 



One bird dog was known to have destroyed 21 quails' 

 nests on one farm in one season. If each nest averaged 15 eggs, 

 how large a flock of quails were destroyed by that one worth- 

 less dog? Each quail would have eaten at least 100 potato 

 bugs and at least that number of many other kinds of insects 

 in one day. Figure out how many insects these quails 

 might have destroyed in one season, if they had all lived. 

 Which do you think would have been the most valuable to 

 the farmer, the quails or the dog? 



REVIEW. 



1. Describe the structure of insects, as to body, wings, legs, and 

 parts on the head. 



2. Tell of the two kinds of mouth parts of insects. 



3. Why cannot insects that have sucking mouth parts be poisoned? 

 How are they usually controlled? 



4. Tell what you can about the skeleton of an insect. 



5. Tell how insects grow. 



6. Tell what Js meant by the terms complete change and incom- 

 plete change in the development of insects. 



7. Name the four stages in the life of insects hfiving complete 

 change. 



