ON THE USEFULNESS OF BIRDS. 339 



to the locnsts with renewed appetites. In this way a great many fruit-gardens have 

 been cleansed of locusts. During the spring of 1877 increased attention was given to 

 this method of disposing of locusts, and though some failures were reported, the great 

 body of those who had given it a fair trial, testify that within certain limits poultry 

 enough can be raised to exterminate the locusts. It is not pretended that entire farms 

 can be saved in this way, but it is claimed that often the gardens and the fields near- 

 est to their roosting-places are ridden of locusts by this simple and also otherwise profit- 

 able agency. 



It is also probable that the value of chickens and turkeys for the general destruc- 

 tion of insects is underestimated. Those who have carefully examined the stomachs 

 of chickens and turkeys taken at random from a farm-yard have often been surprised 

 at the number of insects that they had confiscated. One turkey that I purchased in 

 a butcher-shop in Lincoln in October, 1874, had 47 locusts and 23 other insects in its 

 stomach One that I dissected in October, 1873, had in its stomach 53 of our common 

 insects. When domesticated they retain the eating habits of their wild state, and 

 take every insect that crosses their path. I have rarely examined the stomachs of 

 chickens without finding some insects. The exceptions to this rule have been gener- 

 ally those that have been kept in confinement. The farmer, therefore, who makes pro- 

 vision for a large amount of poultry on his lands accomplishes a double purpose : his 

 profits are to that extent increased, and a large number of insects that would damage 

 his crops are destroyed. 



In the nature of things it is impossible to ascertain absolutely the amount of good 

 that birds do in destroying insects. No one can say with mathematical accuracy what 

 the result would have been if all our birds had been destroyed, or if the number had 

 been double what it is. Only this in general we are sure of, from what has already 

 been stated, that birds destroy an incalculable number of insects, and in so far con- 

 tribute to the safety of crops of all kinds, as well as the perpetuity of the spontaneous 

 vegetation that clothes the earth. Unfortunately the mass of the people have not and 

 do not observe closely what the birds are doing. Hence they are still the victims of preju- 

 dice, and their character is rarely appreciated by the great mass of the people. The 

 fallowing instances of the good work that birds have done no doubt could have been 

 multiplied a thousand fold if there had been a sufficient number of trained and sym- 

 pathetic observers : 



1. In the spring of 1865 the locusts hatched out in countless numbers in Northeast- 

 ern Nebraska. Very few fields of corn and the cereal grains escaped some damage. 

 Some fields were entirely destroyed, while others were hurt to the amount of from ten, 

 to seventy-five per cent. One field of corn northwest of Dakota City was almost liter- 

 ally covered with locusts, and where the indications were that not a stock would es- 

 cape. After, and about the time the corn was up, the yellow-headed blackbirds in 

 large numbers made this field their feeding-grounds. Visiting the field frequently 1 

 could see a gradual diminution of the number of the locusts. Other birds, especi^jilly 

 the plovers, helped the yellow-heads. And although some of the corn had to be re- 

 planted once, yet it vas the birds that made the crop that was raised possible at all. 



2. During the same season I visited Pigeon Creek Valley, in this county, and found 

 among the eaten-up wheat-fields one where the dan. age done was not over five per 

 cent. The Irishman who pointed it out to me ascribed it to the work of the birds, 

 chief among which were the blackbirds and plover, with a few quail and prairie- 

 chickens. 



3. In another locality, where the old Omadi road then crossed Omaha Creek, there 

 were a few old abandoned fields where there were enormous numbers of young locusts 

 toward the end of May. I see from my note-book that I estimated that about three 

 hundred locusts hatched out here to the square foot. Some cottonwood and other 

 timber was near by where many species of birds were breeding at that time and later 

 in the season. The birds soon spied out this locust-covered spot and made it their 

 feeding-grounds. I frequently stopped at this place as I passed by, both to find out 



