BIRDS OF NEW YORK STATE 167 



Economic Importance of Birds 



In the fields, gardens, orchards and woodlands there are 

 innumerable insect pests all striving to gain the upperhand and 

 threatening to consume everything green on the face of the earth. 

 These insects are endowed with a great reproductive capacity 

 and, were there no checks upon their increase, the world would 

 soon be uninhabitable. Nature has designed the birds for this 

 work. "Were it not for the birds," the chief of the United States 

 Biological Survey has stated, "within a short time, not only 

 would successful agriculture become impossible but the destruc- 

 tion of the greater part of the vegetation would follow." 



1 Insect pests and birds that destroy them 



The number of insects consumed each day by birds is enor- 

 mous. One need only watch a pair of birds at their nest feeding 

 their young to be amazed by the numbers which they consume. 

 A pair of grosbeaks, for example, fed their young 376 times in 

 one day ; a pair of vireos that were watched, 450 times ; a pair 

 of chickadees 470 times and one wren, its mate having been 

 killed, 1726 times in the 15 hours of daylight. The young birds 

 are always hungry and the old birds keep up an almost constant 

 supply of food. Again, in examining the stomachs of birds, the 

 Biological Survey at Washington has uncovered some astonish- 

 ing facts as to the number of insects eaten. In one cedar wax- 

 wing's stomach, for example, were found 100 cankerworms, in 

 the stomach of a cuckoo were 350 caterpillars. A flicker had 

 eaten 1000 chinch bugs. The following pictures show birds in 

 the act of eating some of the worst pests that are known to agri- 

 culture. They are single concrete examples of what the birds 

 are doing at all times. 



Army worms, bobolink Nu Bo 



White grubs, meadowlark Nu Mfl 



Apple Tree Tent-caterpillars: Egg Mass, 



Newly Hatched Larvae and First Tent. 



(1916) Nrr Ta2 



Tent-caterpillars, yellow-billed cuckoo Nu CvYS 



Bark beetles, downy woodpecker Nu WpD7 



Work of Fruit Tree Bark Beetle on Apple 



and Plum Trees; Woodpeckers' Holes. 



Specimens, New York State Museum. 



(1918) Nru Ba9 



Cabbage worms, chipping sparrow Nu SpC3 



