68 USEFUL BIRDS. 
dred to the square foot. Birds soon found them, and the 
ground was frequented by Blackbirds, Plover, Curlews, 
Prairie Chickens and small land birds. Long before the 
middle of June most of the locusts had disappeared. In 
1886 locusts, he says, invaded Cedar and Dixon counties in 
swarms that darkened the sun. Nevertheless, at one point 
under observation the great number of birds that attacked 
these insects very materially lessened their numbers. In 
1869 more than ninety per cent. of the locusts in one 
neighborhood were destroyed, apparently by birds, in one 
week. Other experiences are given, and several interesting 
letters from farmers are published, one of which follows : — 
Dear Srr:—In answer to your question about the birds and the 
locusts, I must say this: every farmer that shoots birds must be a fool. 
I had wheat this last spring on new breaking. The grasshoppers came 
out apparently as thick as the wheat itself, and indeed much thicker. I 
gave up that field for lost. Just then great numbers of Plover came, 
and flocks of Blackbirds and some Quail, and commenced feeding on 
this field. They cleaned out the locusts so well that I had at least 
three-fourths of a crop, and I know that without the birds I would not 
have had any. I know other farmers whose wheat was saved in the 
same way. . 8. E. Goopmore. 
Fremont, NEB. 
Another farmer wrote that the locusts hatched in immense 
numbers in his corn fields, but flocks of Blackbirds came and 
destroyed the insects, so that he raised a good crop. In an- 
other case, related by State Senator Crawford, a wheat field 
was swept clean by the locusts when the wheat was about 
two inches high; but flocks of Blackbirds came and de- 
voured the locusts, and the wheat sprang up again and made 
a good crop. The members of the United States Entomo- 
logical Commission were much impressed with the value of 
birds as locust destroyers. They said that the ocular dem- 
onstration of the usefulness of birds as insect destroyers was 
“so full and complete that it was impossible to entertain any 
doubt on this point.” In one instance a farmer took one 
of the members of the commission out into the field, to 
show him how numerously the young locusts were hatching. 
