on the whole embrace few destructive species. Not only do many birds satisfy our 

 esthetic sense through their beautiful plumage and their sweet voices, but they are 

 marvelously adapted to their respective fields of activity. No other creatures are so 

 well fitted to capture flying insects as swallows, swifts, and nighthawks. Among the 

 avian ranks also are wrens, trim of body and agile of movement, that creep in and out of 

 holes and crevices and explore rubbish heaps for hidden insects. The woodpecker, 

 whose whole body exhibits wonderful adaptation of means to end, is provided with 

 strong claws for holding firmly when at work, a chisel-like bill driven by powerful 

 muscles to dig out insects, and a long extensible tongue to still further explore the 

 hidden retreats of insects and drag forth the concealed larvae, safe from other foes. 

 The creepers, titmice, warblers, flycatchers, quails, doves, and other families have 

 each their own special field of activity. However unlike they may be in appearance, 

 structure, and habits, all are similar in one respect — they possess a never flaggii^ 

 appetite for insects and weed seeds. 



One of the most useful groups of native birds is the sparrow family. While &)me 

 of the tribe wear gay suits of maify hues, most of the sparrows are clad in modest brown 

 tints, and as they spend much of the time in grass and weeds are commonly over- 

 looked. Unobtrusive as they are, they lay the farmer under a heavy debt of gratitude 

 by their food habits, since their chosen fare consists largely of the seeds of weeds. 

 Selecting a tjrpical member of the group, the tree sparrow, for instance, one-fourth 

 ounce of weed seed per day is a conservative estimate of the food of an adult. On this 

 basis, in a large agricultural State like Iowa tree sparrows annually eat approximately 

 875 tons of weed seeds. Only the farmer, upon whose shoulders falls the heavy 

 burden of freeing his land of noxious weeds, can realize what this vast consumption 

 of weed seeds means in the saving and cost of labor. Some idea of the money value 

 of this group of birds to the country may be gained from the statement that the total 

 value of the faxm products in the United States in 1910 reached the amazing simi of 

 $8,926,000,000. If we estimate that the total consimiption of weed seed by the com- 

 bined members of the sparrow family resulted in a saving of only 1 per cent of the 

 crops — ^not a violent assumption — the sum saved to farmers by these birds in 1910 

 was $89,260,000. 



The current idea in relation to hawks and owls is erroneous. These birds are 

 generally classed as thieves and robbers, whereas a large majority of them are the 

 farmers' friends and spend the greater part of their long lives in pursuit of injurious 

 insects and rodents. The hawks work by day, the owls chiefly by night, so that the 

 useful activities of the two classes are continued practically throughout the 24 hours. 

 As many as 100 grasshoppers have been found in the stomach of a Swainson's hawk, 

 representing a single meal; and in the retreat of a pair of barn owls have been found 

 more than 3,000 skulls, 97 per cent of which were of mammals, the bulk consisting of 

 field mice, house mice, and common rats. Nearly half a bushel of the remains of 

 pocket gophers — animals which are very destructive in certain parts of the United 

 States — ^was found near a nest of this species. The notable increase of noxious rodents 

 during the last few years in certain parts of the United States and the consequent 

 damage to crops are due in no small part to the diminished number of birds of prey, 

 which formerly destroyed them and aided in keeping down their numbers. A few 

 hawks are injurious, and the bulk of the depredations on birds and chickens charge- 

 able against hawks is committed by three species — the Cooper's hawk, the sharp- 

 shiimed hawk, and the goshawk. The farmer's boy should learn to know these daring 

 robbers by sight, so as to kill them whenever possible. 



From the foregoing it will at once appear that the practice of offering bounties 

 indiscriminately for the heads of hawks and owls, as has been done by some States, 

 is a serious mistake, the result being not only a waste of public funds but the destruc- 

 tion of valuable birds which can be replaced, if at all, only after the lapse of years. 



670 



