THEIR PLACE IN NATURE 11 



mission : like the weasel and the fox in their own 

 world, they are the spoilers of the insect world. 



Destruction of Insects 



Insects are fair game. Finches and game-birds 

 subsist mainly on seeds — weeds, acorns, or grain, 

 as the case may be; robins and catbirds enjoy a 

 juicy cherry or a luscious strawberry; parrots 

 and toucans consume tropical fruit in enormous 

 quantities ; but all of them will swallow an insect 

 with avidity, be they song sparrow, partridge, 

 robin, or toucan. A beetle to a bird is like a drop 

 of nectar to a honey-bee, to be consumed immedi- 

 ately without the loss of a second. Certain spe- 

 cies survive wholly upon insects; insects are es- 

 sential to the diet of most others, particularly in 

 the nesting season when the young are to be fed. 

 Night-hawks, swifts, and swallows hve virtually 

 on them alone. Grasshoppers furnish much of 

 the daily fare of turkeys. The American spar- 

 row-hawk prefers a grasshopper above anything 

 else as food. A wood-duck will swim far for the 

 larva of a dragon-fly. A hummingbird devours 

 microscopic insects by the hundred at a meal. 



The importance of insect destruction cannot 

 be overestimated when we stop to consider the 

 potential possibilities of the tiny organisms. Let 

 it be understood that there are some four hun- 



