CARDINALS AS WEED DESTROYERS. 13 
seed-eating birds, and their great value ta the farmer consists in 
the service they render in this direction. The warfare against 
seeds, so costly to him, is waged by the whole body of sparrows and 
other seed-eating birds year in and year out without cessation. Were 
it not for them the 
number of weeds 
would be vastly 
greater and the re- 
sulting damage cor- 
respondingly larger. 
How great this dam- 
age is will appear 
from the statement 
that the loss to the Fic. 5.—Seeds of corn gromwell (Lithospermum arrense). 
(From Hillman, Nevada Experiment Station.) 
wheat interests of 
Minnesota from dockage, largely due to the presence of weed seed, is 
about $2,500,000 annually. Moreover, conditions in Minnesota are 
not exceptional, and in every State the total annual loss from weed 
seeds is very great. So far, then, as farmers can protect and increase 
the number of weed-seed eating birds to that extent will they reap the 
benefit of increased service from these faithful servants. The redbird 
eats the seeds of many of the most harmful weeds, making more than 
a third of its subsistence upon them. Hence it occupies a very impor- 
tant place among the weed-destroying birds, and should be prized 
accordingly. 
ANIMAL Foop. 
Though in quantity much less than the vegetable food, the animal 
portion of the cardinal’s diet is much more diverse and is comprised in 
no less than six 
of the natural 
classes. These are 
myriapods, centi- 
pedes, insects, 
spiders, bivalves, 
and _ univalves. 
Insects are vastly 
more important 
than the others 
Fic. 6.—Seeds of ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiaefolia). (From and bonshiMite 
, Hillman, Nevada Experiment Station.) 26.25 out of 28.99 
percent, the total 
proportion of animal matter consumed. The percentage is appor- 
tioned among the orders of insects as follows: Wasps 0.92, bugs 3.72, 
butterflies (and caterpillars) 5.1, grasshoppers 6.42, and beetles 10.48. 
“Bull. 95, Minn, Agr. Exp. Sta., 1906, p. 195. 
