1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



455 



For the New Eniihmd Farmer. 

 ' BIRDS versus IISTSECTS. 



Mr. Brown : — A few daj-s since I took a 

 leisurel)' stroll far into the forest, for the express 

 purpose of observing the habits of some of our 

 woodland birds. Thout^h it was mid-August, the 

 day was cool, clear and autumn-like. The woods 

 were extensive, and though the larger trees were 

 chiclly pine, every kind of timber growing in the 

 vicinity abounded there. When I first entered 

 the edge of the wood, a single Wood Pewee and a 

 Scarlet Tanager were the only birds visible, or 

 even hardly within hearing, excepting a bevy of 

 Jays, screaming loudly in the distance. While I 

 was watching the Wood Pewee, as she darted upon 

 passing insects, and anon gave frequent utter- 

 ances to her ])laintive call of pce-e-toee, and won- 

 dering M-hat might cause the still bright red Tan- 

 ager (these birds generally moult and change 

 their scarlet dress for one of greenish-yellow early 

 in August.) to call so loudly dilcken, chick, chicL- 

 tem, and appear so much irritated, a confiding 

 Chickadee alighted low on a sapling 7iear me, and 

 began eying me Avith the usual inquisitive bold- 

 ness of his species. He uttered feebly and hesi- 

 tatingly his wild call-note, pe-dee, and was soon 

 joined by his companions. Now, various species 

 of summer Warblers appeared, when on came the 

 throng of noisy Jays, accompanied by a considera- 

 able number of Cakimove Orioles, v/hich, at this j 

 season, forage extensively in the woods, as well as j 

 among the trees of the orchard, a large spotted 

 Woodpecker, several Nuthatches, Vireos and oth- 

 er birds. The whole formed as numerous and 

 musical a party as one often meets in a forest — 

 taking complete possession of the trees, t'le twigs [ 

 and small branches of which seemed in constant '• 

 vibration as they hopped about among them, hunt- j 

 ing insects. I sat down and reckoned up fully I 

 fifteen species that I had seen in the last ten min- 1 

 utes, some of them represented by a dozen or 

 twenty individuals. 



The Chickadee, close by me, I several times saw 

 pulling in pieces cateri)illars and inch vv'orms, and 

 eating them by piece-meal ; the Jays were feeding 

 their full-grown young v.-ith the fruits of their for- 

 aging, apparently chiefly caterpillars ; the Orioles 

 I saw separate the rolled up leaves on an oak, and 

 draw therefrom and devour the hidden larva, and 

 hammer in pieces large caterpillars preparatory to 

 swallowing ; the Nuthatches were running over 

 the stems of the trees, shivering oft' the loose 

 scales of bark to get at the concealed insects ; 

 the Woodpecker was hammering away on a de- 

 cayed limb for a borer, and the Warblers were 

 seizing insects flying in the air, as well as those 

 that infested the trees. I remained still in my sit- 

 uation, quite unobserved by the birds for a long 

 time ; for it was a half hour or more before this 

 numerous party Avas all past, in their leisurely 

 way of foraging ; and at no time during the sever- 

 al hours I remained in the wood, were there no 

 birds visible, but on the contrary, several, and 

 many in hearing, all the while engaged in hunting 

 and devouring caterpillars and other larvse infest- 

 ing the forest trees, and mature insects. 



At this season it is not uncommon to meet with 

 parties like this in our woods, particularly a little 

 later, when the fall migration of the little War- 

 blers, that spend the breeding season more north- 



wardly, occurs, when parties of several scores, and 

 even hundreds are constantly hunting the wood, 

 and the quantities of very many species of de- 

 structive insects they devour must be indeed im- 

 mense, they being actively engaged almost the 

 whole day long. 



Indeed, the number of insects one bird destroys 

 in a single day is surprising. Birds require, in 

 fact, a large amount of food ; their digestion is 

 rapid, their blood of a high temperature, and their 

 muscular exertion great, being, at least some spe- 

 cies, almost constantly in motion. Let any one, 

 who is at all skeptical respecting the probable 

 correctness of the estimates commonly made of 

 the immense number of insects destroyed by birds, 

 go into the woods and silently watch the birds in 

 their unrestrained freedom, and base his estima- 

 tions upon what he himself sees. If still doubt- 

 ful, let him shoot a few birds — only a few — and in- 

 spect the contents of their stomachs, examine 

 w^hat there remains of perhaps hundreds of par- 

 tially digested insects, generally of many species, 

 and then give us his opinions and estimations. 

 But some may say, birds are not all day thus en- 

 gaged destroying insects ; observation, however, 

 shows that there are but fev/ periods during the 

 day, and those of short duration, when truly in- 

 sectivorous birds are in a state of rest. Having of 

 late s]5ent much time in the woods prosecuting ray 

 favorite study — the natural history of our native 

 birds — I am the more forcibly struck with the 

 immensity of the destruction of insect life by 

 the birds, the natural, pre-ordained checks upon 

 the numbers of the rapidly increasing insect my- 

 riads. 



Having occasion to prepare some specimens for 

 the cabinet, I have dissected many individuals for 

 the purpose of investigating their regimen, and 

 had designed to present a minute account of the 

 result here ; but I am already getting too lengthy, 

 and will present only general details. Of ten spe- 

 cies, taken without selection, but by chance, 

 mostly in the woods, in only one, did I find a 

 particle of vegetable diet; the Golden-Crowned 

 Thrush, with the remains of numerous beetles and 

 caterpillars, had a few small seeds in its stomach. 

 The Vireos, several of which I dissected, which are 

 commonly believed to subsist almost M'hoUy upon 

 Vr'hortleberries at this season, contained no other 

 food than the remains of several species of light 

 green caterpillars. The Orioles had dieted upon 

 caterpillars and small beetles, while the gizzards 

 of Bobolinks were distended with what appeared 

 to be a reddish-brown Aphis. Warblers were 

 filled with the remains of minute beetles and small 

 caterpillars ; Pewees and Tanagers with various 

 species of dipterous and hemipterous insects and 

 a few beetles. j. a. a. 



Springiield, Aug. 20, 18G2. 



Hints about the Dahlia. — The dahHa is our 

 favorite flower, and it must from its many desira- 

 ble qualities always be popular, if, at present, it is 

 a little out of favor. Some in our yard, are nov/ 

 — Aug. 1st — in full perfection of bloom, and are 

 truly magnificent. Any garden soil will grow this 

 flower, but we prefer a compost made of old black 

 garden mould, clay and sandy peaty loam. In 

 wintering the dahlia, take up the tubers as soon 

 as the tops are killed by the frost, do not separate 



