atives, simply tells us how ceaselessly they are working to preserve 

 our trees. And yet every boy that has had a gun has taken a shot at 

 these guardians of our trees. The true sap-sucker or yellow-bellied 

 wood-pecker, may do some harm especially to young trees, because 

 of the holes he drills in the trunk and the resulting loss of sap. But 

 even in this case it is a question whether the good done does not more 

 than balance the evil. The sweet sap as it comes to the surface at- 

 tracts insects, and as they become entangled in the sticky fluid they 

 fall an easy prey to the sap-sucker and other insect-loving birds. You 

 can always tell if the true sap-sucker has been at work. The holes 

 he drills are in a straight row right around the trunk; the holes drilled 

 by the other wood-peckers are scattered. At any rate this bird which 

 may possibly be harmful is only a summer resident, while the other 

 wood-peckers spend the entire year with us. The wood-pecker family 

 should be very carefully guarded and every boy and girl should know 

 everything they can possibly discover about these good friends of man. 

 Wood-peckers are wonderfully adapted in their structure to their 

 habits of life, more perfectly perhaps than any other land bird. Some 

 time when you have opportunity examine their feet and tail and bill 

 and tongue, and see how they serve to help the wood-pecker in his 

 work. 



Were you ever given a gun to keep the blackbirds out of a freshly- 

 planted field? If so you were given a foolish thing to do. When the 

 blackbirds first come in the spring they usually are compelled to eat 

 grain until the ground is broken by the plow, but this grain is usually 

 the waste grain upon the ground. As soon, however, as the soil is 

 turned by the plow and the blackbirds can secure animal food, they 

 become so eager to secure every grub and larval form exposed by the 

 plow that they will come within a few feet of the man who is plowing. 

 It has been estimated that at least one-third of the corn planted would 

 be destroyed by insects were it not for this preliminary work of the 

 blackbird in ridding the soil of grubs. 



The crow has a fairly bad reputation, and I presume he does at 

 times pick up some com that the farmer has planted. But what do 

 you think he is doing all the remainder of the year, for corn is not 

 being constantly planted. Examination shows that by far the larger 

 per cent, of his food is made up of insects, largely grasshoppers. In 

 the long run, taking the entire year, the crow will be found to be of 

 great service to the former, and his destruction would be a great injury 

 to agriculture. You will find the crow a very interesting bird to 

 study, because it is so cunning, and more than that, because it is so 



