519 
ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
ing in theiv fields, but they are often equally careful to gru ou 
remain along the fences. In view of the great seivice ^ uc i ms 
birds render to agriculture, and the conditions which must e o )sei \ e 
to retain them in abundance in agricultural districts, the destruction oj Uees to 
which I have referred must be looked upon as false economy. ler 
few of our birds which can or will witlistand the piercing rays ” 
summer noon-day sun, unprotected by shade of some sort; anc a s i 
number of the insectivorous species which are so common and useful now ca 
possibly remain after the groves and woods are gone, unless some specia p 
visions are made for them. 
The planting of shade-trees along the streets, which so many are now g, 
is a step in the right direction; and the setting of trees along “line-fences, 
which a few on the prairies are attempting, is still moie to the pom . 
that nearly every stationary fence on the farm should have its low o p 
rooting shade-trees; and especially should this be the case on the prairies, w rere 
there are so few attractions for birds. It need only be added, m urging this 
point, that scientific men have earnestly advised long ago this planting o rees 
for other purposes. In clearing farms in the future, much l^boi an expense 
may be saved by reserving such trees as are already growing w ere ley are 
needed. I have said that it may yet be found advisable to plant cherry trees 
for the purpose of attracting birds. The place for them would be along the 
fences, where they could serve not only as shade and to draw the buds into the 
fields, but at the same time enable certain species to maintain a greatei a 3un- 
dance. A more careful survey of the questions involved, however, is needed 
before such steps can be advised unhesitatingly. 
Food: Of fifteen specimens examined, all but two had eaten cherries; two, 
raspberries; and two, red elder-berries. One had eaten five ichneumons (?); two, 
three beetles; one, three crickets; one, four tipulids; one, fifty tipulid eggs; one, 
two lace-wings; and one, a caddis-fiy. 
Whortleberries, berries of sour gum, red cedar-berries, cherries, and a few 
beetles and other insects (Wilson). Myrtle-berries (Cooper). Cherries, small 
beetles, canker-worms, and other caterpillars (De Kay). Cherries and caterpil¬ 
lars (Samuels). Caterpillars, beetles, canker-worms and various insects. It 
more than pays for the cherries it eats (Nuttall). They are, by preference, eat¬ 
ers of berries and other vegetable food, except in the spring and early summer, 
when they eat insects almost exclusively, feeding upon the larvm of the span- 
worms and canker-worm and small caterpillars, by supplying these to their 
young (Brewer). Wilson, speaking of its food in the South, says; “Berries of 
red cedar, mvrtle, holly, Cassine shrub, many species of smilax, together with 
gumberries, and a profusion of others with which the luxuriant swampy thick¬ 
ets of those regions abound, furnish tliem with a perpetual feast.” He also 
states that they feed upon winged insects, of which they are very fond and re¬ 
markably expert at catching. _ , . , 
How destructive these birds are to caterpillars, at times, is shov n conclusively 
by Prof. Forbes in one of his excellent reports on the food of birds. He says, 
in discussing the food of some birds winch were collected in an orchard, se¬ 
verely attacked by canker-worms, in IMay, 1881: “ Next comes the gem of our 
ornithological beauties, the Cedar-bird, sometimes called the Cherry-bird, and 
greatly persecuted for its love of cherries. A flock of about thirty had appar¬ 
ently taken up their residence in this orchard. The food record of the seven 
which were killed is very brief - canker-worms one hundred per cent, ex¬ 
pressed it all. The number of canker-worms in each stomach, determined by 
