SOME COMMON BIRDS USEFUL TO THE FARMER.’ 
By F. E. L, Brat, Late Assistant Biologist, Division of Food Habits Research, 
Bureau of Biological Survey. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. y Page. 
The bluebirds____________________ 2 | Bullock oriole__------------------ 14 
The robins__-__ 8 | The meadowlarks_--_---—---_-~--- 14 
DUO PCS coc seeat lana teeoan cee sans, 4 | The red-winged blackbirds____-_--- 15 
The wrens _________ ss 6 | Bobolink __-._---~~-------------- 17 
Brown thrasher____-______ | 7 | Crow -__------------------------ 17 
Catbirdssu soo. c eee 7 | Blue jay 19 
The swallows... 8 20 
Towhee_______ 9 21 
The sparrows_ 9 28 
House finch __ 11 24 
The grackles____ 12 25 
Brewer blackbird_____ - 12 38 
Baltimore oriole.___.._____..._____ 13 | Bobwhite____- --_---------------- 28 
HETHER a bird is beneficial or injurious depends almost 
entirely upon what it eats. In the case of species which are 
very abundant, or which feed to some extent on the crops of 
the farmer, the question of their average diet becomes one of supreme 
importance, and only by stomach examinations can it be satisfac- 
torily answered. Field observations are at best but fragmentary and 
inconclusive and lead to no final results. Birds are often accused 
. of eating this or that product of cultivation, when an examination 
of the stomachs shows the accusation to be unfounded.. Accordingly, 
the Biological Survey has conducted for some years a systematic 
investigation of the food of those species which are most common 
about the farm and garden. ; 
Within certain limits birds eat the kind of food that is most 
accessible, especially when their natural food is scarce or wanting. 
Thus they sometimes injure the crops of the farmer who has unin- 
tentionally destroyed their natural food in his improvement of 
swamp or pasture. Most of the damage done by birds and com- 
plained of by farmers and fruit growers arises from this very cause. 
The berry-producing shrubs and seed-bearing weeds have been cleared 
away, and the birds have no recourse but to attack the ee 
grain or fruit which has replaced their natural food supply. é 
great majority of land birds subsist upon insects during the period 
of nesting and molting, and also feed their young upon them during 
the first few weeks. Many species live almost entirely upon insects, 
taking vegetable food se when other subsistence fails. It is thus 
7 al. 
1This bulletin is largely a revision of Farmers’ Bulletin 54, by Pb oe i. elie 
he parts relating to the crow and De a rere eae bent es ey WL, McA tee, 
as = . * ssion 0 * - 
in cheres, Mod Watite eee i Professor Beal, author of the remainder of the bulle 
tin, died October 1, 1916. 1 
