BIRDS USEFUL TO FARM AND ORCHARD 
and the seeds of poison oak or ivy, also 
the seeds of pine and of the bayberry. 
Loggerhead Shrike 
Lanvws ludovicianus 
Length, about nine inches. A gray, 
black and white bird, distinguished from 
the somewhat similarly colored mocking 
bird by the black stripe on side of head. 
Range 
Breeds throughout the United States, 
Mexico and Southern Canada, winters in 
the southern half of the United States 
and in Mexico. 
Habits and Economic Status 
The loggerhead shrike, or Southern 
butcher bird, is common throughout its 
range and is sometimes called “French 
mocking bird” from a superficial resem- 
blance and not from its notes, which are 
harsh and unmusical. The shrike is 
naturally an insectivorous bird which has 
extended its bill of fare to include small 
mammals, birds and reptiles. Its hooked 
beak is well adapted to tearing its prey, 
while to make amends for the lack of 
talons it has hit upon the plan of forcing 
its victim, if too large to swallow, into 
the fork of a bush or tree, where it can 
tear it asunder. Insects, especially grass- 
hoppers, constitute the larger part of its 
food, though beetles, moths, caterpillars, 
ants, wasps and a few spiders also are 
taken. While the butcher bird occasion- 
ally catches small birds, its principal 
vertebrate food is small mammals, as 
field mice, shrews, and moles, and when 
possible it obtains lizards. It habitually 
impales its surplus prey on a _ thorn, 
sharp twig, or barb of a wire fence. 
Barn Swallow 
Hirundo erythrogastra 
Length, about seven inches. Dis- 
tinguished among our swallows by deeply 
forked tail. 
Range 
Breeds throughout the United States 
(except the South Atlantic and Gulf 
states) and most of Canada; winters in 
South America. 
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Habits and Economic Status 
This is one of the most familiar birds 
of the farm and one of the greatest in- 
sect destroyers. From daylight to dark 
on tireless wings it seeks its prey, and 
the insects destroyed are countless. Its 
favorite nesting site is a barn rafter, 
upon which it sticks its mud basket. 
Most modern barns are so tightly con- 
structed that swallows cannot gain en- 
trance, and in New England and some 
other parts of the country barn swallows 
are much less numerous than formerly. 
Farmers can easily provide for the en- 
trance and exit of the birds and so add 
materially to their numbers. It may be 
well to add that the parasites that some- 
times infest the nests of swallows are 
not the ones the careful housewife 
dreads, and no fear need be felt of the 
infestation spreading to the houses. [n- 
sects taken on the wing constitute the 
almost exclusive diet of the barn swal- 
low. More than one-third of the whole 
consists of flies, including unfortunately 
some useful parasitic species. Beetles 
stand next in order and consist of a few 
weevils and many of the small dung 
beetles of the May beetle family that 
swarm over the pastures in the late after- 
noon. Ants amount to more than one- 
fifth of the whole food, while wasps and 
bees are well represented. 
Purple Martin 
Progne subis 
Length, about eight inches. 
Range 
Breeds throughout the United States 
and Southern Canada, south to Central 
Mexico; winters in South America. 
Habits and Economic Status 
This is the largest as it is one of the 
most beautiful of the swallow tribe. It 
formerly built its nests in cavities of 
trees, as it still does in wild districts, 
put learning that man was a friend it 
soon adopted domestic habits. Its pres- 
ence about the farm can often be secured 
by erecting houses suitable for nesting 
sites and protecting them from usurpa- 
tion by the English sparrow, and every 
effort should be made to increase the 
