THE BIRD STUDY BOOK 



of great plagues of insects which literally lay waste 

 a whole section of country. History tells of these 

 calamities which have troubled the civilized world 

 from the days of Pharaoh to the present time. Dur- 

 ing the summer of 1912 there was a great outbreak of 

 army worms in South Carolina. In innumerable 

 millions they marched across the country, destroy- 

 ing vegetation like a consuming fire. In the year 

 1900 Hessian flies appeared in great numbers in Ohio 

 and Indiana, and before they subsided they had de- 

 stroyed absolutely two and one-half million acres of 

 the finest wheat to be found in the Middle West, 

 and wheat land dropped 40 per cent, in value. 



Closing this Year Book, with its long tables of dis- 

 couraging statements, we may find more cheerful 

 reading if we turn to another Agricultural Depart- 

 ment publication entitled, "Some Common Birds 

 and Their Relation to Agriculture; Farmers Bulletin 

 number Fifty-four." We need peruse only a few 

 pages to become impressed with the fact that our 

 Government Biological Survey has made an ex- 

 [ '04] 



