294 



FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



The presence of flocks of Robins searching grasslands 

 for food is one of the characteristic sights of early spring. 

 At no other season, perhaps, do these birds search so 

 persistently upon the ground. A large proportion of the 

 grasshoppers, cutworms, army worms, and other grass 

 insects that have succeeded in living through the winter 



are then eaten by the 

 Robins. This early 

 spring destruction of 

 such pests is of great 

 value in checking their 

 increase, and the birds 

 atone for many sins in 

 the cherry trees by 

 their actions at this 

 season. 



No consideration of 

 the relations of birds 

 to insects of grass- 

 lands would be ade- 

 quate that did not 

 take account of the 

 flycatchers, swallows, 

 swifts, whippoorwills, and nighthawks, a large part of 

 whose food consists of grasshoppers, leaf hoppers, beetles, 

 moths, and other pests of grasslands. 



As their name indicates, the meadow mice are often very 

 destructive in pastures and meadows. They destroy much 

 grass by feeding upon crowns or roots, and their runways 

 in spring often show how busy they have been beneath 

 the snow in winter. The hawks and owls are the most 

 important natural checks upon these pests. The experi- 

 ences of many regions show that where these birds are 



SCREECH OWL 



