BIRDS USEFUL TO FARM AND ORCHARD 
tracted by insects which, unknown to 
the farmer or orchardist, are fast ruin- 
ing his crop. Hence it has been found 
necessa1ly to examine the stomachs and 
qiops ot birds to ascertain definitely 
what and how much they eat The Bio- 
logical Survey has in this way examined 
upward of 50,000 birds, most of which 
have been obtained during the last 25 
years from scientific collectors, for our 
birds are too useful to be sacrificed when 
it can possibly be avoided, even for the 
sake of obtaining data upon which to 
base legislation for their protection 
It is interesting to observe that hungry 
birds—and birds are hungry most of the 
time—are not content to fill their stom- 
achs with insects or seeds, but after the 
stomach is stuffed until it will hold no 
more continue to eat till the crop or 
gullet also is crammed. It is often the 
case that when the stomach is opened 
and the contents piled up the pile is two 
or three times as large as the stomach 
was when filled. Birds may truly be said 
to have healthy appetites. To show the 
astonishing capacity of birds’ stomachs 
and to reveal the extent to which man is 
indebted to birds for the destruction of 
noxious insects, the following facts are 
given as learned by stomach examina- 
tions made by assistants of the Biologi- 
cal Survey: 
A tree swallow’s stomach was found to 
contain 40 entire chinch bugs and frag- 
ments of many others, besides 10 other 
species of insects. A bank swallow in 
Texas devoured 68 cotton-boll weevils, 
one of the worst insect pests that ever 
invaded the United States and 385 cliff 
swallows had taken an average of 18 
boll weevils each. Two stomachs of pine 
siskins from Haywards, Cal., contained 
1,900 black olive scales and 300 plant lice. 
A killdeer’s stomach taken in November 
in Texas contained over 300 mosquito 
larvae. A flicker’s stomach held 28 
white grubs. A nighthawk’s stomach col- 
lected in Kentucky contained 34 May 
beetles, the adult form of white grubs. 
Another nighthawk from New York had 
eaten 24 clover-leaf weevils and 375 ants. 
Still another nighthawk had eaten 340 
625 
grasshoppers, 52 bugs, 3 beetles, 2 wasps 
and a spider. A boat-tailed grackle from 
Texas had eaten at one meal about 100 
cotton bollworms, besides a few other in- 
sects. A ring-necked pheasant’s crop 
from Washington contained 8,000 seeds of 
chickweed and a dandelion head. More 
than 72,000 seeds have been found in a 
single duck stomach taken in Louisiana 
in February. 
A knowledge of his bird friends and 
enemies, therefore, is doubly important 
to ithe farmer and orchardist in order 
that he may protect the kinds that earn 
protection by their services and may 
drive away or destroy the others. At the 
present time many kinds of useful birds 
need direct intervention in their behalf 
as never before The encroachments of 
civilization on timbered tracts and the 
methods of modern intensive cultivation 
by destroying or restricting breeding 
grounds of birds tend to diminish their 
ranks. The number of insect pests, on 
the other hand, is all the time increasing 
by leaps and bounds through importa- 
tions from abroad and by migration from 
adjoining territories. Every effort, there- 
fore, should be made to augment the 
numbers of our useful birds by protect- 
ing them from their enemies, by provid- 
ing nesting facilities, and by furnishing 
them food in times of stress, especially 
in winter. 
Important in this connection is the 
planting near the house and even in out- 
of-the-way places on the farm of various 
berry-bearing shrubs, many of which are 
ornamental, which will supply food when 
snow is on the ground. Other species 
which are not berry eaters, like the wood- 
peckers, nuthatches, creepers, and chick- 
adees, can be made winter residents of 
many farms, even in the North, by put- 
ting out at convenient places a supply of 
suet, of which they and many other birds 
are very fond, even in summer. Hedges 
and thickets about the farm are impor- 
tant to furnish nesting sites and shelter 
both from the elements and from the 
numerous enemies of birds. 
Few are aware of the difficulty often 
experienced by birds in obtaining water 
