Alabama, 19 15. 29 



ORIOLES, SWALLOWS, AND NIGHTHAWKS VALUABLE 

 IN DESTROYING THE COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL 



0~~~^ F ALL the birds known as natural enemies of the cotton-boll 

 ^b— - weevil, orioles, swallows and nighthawks are the most im- 



HiagBl portant, according to the Biological Survey. Insect special- 

 ists of the bureau have made extensive investigations of the 

 subject, which have developed that there are 60 kinds of birds that 

 eat the weevil. 



The nighthawk, or bullbat, catches the weevils on the wing in 

 considerable numbers, especially during their migration. Unfor- 

 tunately, the nighthawk is shot for sport or eaten for food in some 

 sections of the South, but its value for good is infinitesimal as com- 

 pared with the services it renders the cotton grower and other agri- 

 culturists, and every effort should be made to spread broadcast a 

 knowledge of its usefulness as a weevil destroyer, with a view to its 

 complete protection. The orioles, barn swallow, rough-wing swal- 

 low, bank swallow, cliff swallow, and the martin are all persistent 

 enemies of the boll weevil. 



From the standpoint of the farmer and the cotton grower these 

 swallows are among the most useful birds. Especially designed by 

 nature to capture insects in midair, their powers of flight and endur- 

 ance are unexcelled, and in their own field they have no competitors. 

 Their peculiar value to the cotton grower consists in the fact that, 

 like the nighthawk, they capture boll weevils when flying over the 

 fields, which no other birds do. Flycatchers snap up the weevils near 

 trees and shrubbery. Wrens hunt them out when concealed under 

 bark or rubbish. Blackbirds catch them on the ground, as do the 

 killdeer, titlark, meadow lark, and others; while orioles hunt for 

 them on the bolls. But it is the peculiar function of swallows to 

 catch the weevils as they are making long flights, leaving the cotton 



