THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



willow trees, one hundred and eighty-six different kinds of insects 

 are constantly at work; on the pine, one hundred and sixty-five 

 species; on the hickory, one hundred and seventy; on the birch, 

 one hundred and five; and on the elm, eighty. Careful analysis 

 of the stomachs of thousands of woodpeckers, titmice, creepers, 

 kinglets, wood warblers, wrens, flycatchers, swallows, nuthatches 

 and other birds show r that they do nothing else but eat thess 

 devastating insects. This is their life work. Destroy our wild 

 birds and you destroy our forests. 



Birds w T ork more in conjunction with man than any other 

 form of outdoor life. Nature has given them the special task of 

 holding insect life in check in order to protect plant life. Do not 

 let any fruit grower think, however, that birds alone will keep his 

 orchard free from insect pests; birds will only help in the fight 

 in orchards, gardens and forests. 



In a day's time, the bush-tit and chickadee have been known 

 to eat hundreds of insect eggs and worms that are harmful to 

 our trees and vegetables. A brood of three young chipping spar- 

 rows were watched during one day and they were fed a hundred 

 and eighty-seven times by the parents. A family of four song 

 sparrows, seven days old, were fed seventeen grasshoppers and 

 two spiders in sixty-seven minutes. The flycatchers and swallows 

 destroy vast numbers of flies and gnats that annoy horses and 

 cattle. The food of the flicker or woodpecker consists largely of 

 ants which protect the aphides or plant lice which are so destruc- 

 tive to gardens and orchards. Three thousand of these ants have 

 been taken from the crop of a single bird. The food of the 

 meadowlark consists of seventy-five per cent of injurious insects 

 and twelve per cent of weed seed, which shows it is a bird of 

 great economic value. A single robin has been known to eat a 

 hundred and seventy-five caterpillars. One bob-white that was 

 killed had over a hundred potato bugs in its craw. Another had 

 eaten two spoonfuls of chinch, bugs. After the clay-flying birds 

 have ceased their work and gone to sleep, the nighthawk is busy 

 catching untold numbers of mosquitoes, moths and other insects. 



W. L. F. 



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