SERVICES RENDERED BY BIRDS. 9 



ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS. 



In the early days of the settlement of this country birds were 

 considered of value to man chiefly as a source of food. Modern 

 scientific investigation, however, has demonstrated that most birds 

 are of infinitely more value to the agriculturist through their de- 

 struction of noxious insects, destructive mammals, and weed seed. 



The great abundance of insects and the widespread injury to 

 crops caused by a host of herbivorous species are well known to 

 every farmer, but the important service rendered by birds in keeping 

 within bounds these destructive swarms is less widely recognized. 

 "The examination of birds' stomachs," says Prof. Beal, "has shown 

 that nearly all of the smaller species, and many of the larger ones, 

 such as the crow, subsist largely upon insects in the summer time, 

 while rearing their young, and, as a general rule, all the small birds 

 feed their nestlings on this food, no matter what the adults may eat." 



In fields and gardens the birds most useful in the war against 

 insects are the robin, bluebird, catbird, indigo bird, chipping spar- 

 row, the orioles, blackbirds, meadowlarks, flycatchers, and quail. 

 Swallows, martins, swifts, and nighthawks supplement the work of 

 ground-feeding species by capturing insects in the air as they fly 

 over the fields, and in the orchard and forest a host of keen-eyed 

 foragers, including woodpeckers, nuthatches, wrens, chickadees, 

 warblers, vireos, tanagers, and cuckoos, search out and destroy 

 great numbers of insects destructive to the bark and foliage of fruit 

 and forest trees. 



Among the special services rendered by birds in the South may 

 be mentioned the destruction of crawfish by various herons, of mos- 

 quitoes by many species, chiefly shorebirds, swifts, swallows, night- 

 hawks, and flycatchers, 1 and of the cotton boll weevil by no fewer 

 than 53 species. The relations of birds to this latter insect are of 

 particular interest in view of the rapid spread of the pest in Arkansas. 

 Investigations in Texas and Louisiana have shown that many birds 

 feed extensively on this weevil, and some species, for instance the 

 orioles, show a special liking for it and have learned how to find it 

 in its hiding places in the cotton "squares." 



Besides the orioles, the birds most useful in keeping down the 

 weevil in summer are swallows, nighthawks, flycatchers, and the 

 painted bunting, while in winter splendid service is rendered by 

 meadowlarks, blackbirds, pipits, wrens, and Savannah sparrows, 

 which seek out and destroy the weevils in their hibernating quarters. 

 Cotton growers should see that every species of bird known to feed 

 on the weevil is protected on their lands and should, in addition, 

 strive to increase the numbers of such species as martins and wrens 

 by providing nest boxes for their accommodation. 



i Cf. McAtee, Auk, XXVIII, pp. 141-142, 1911. 



