SOME COMMON BIRDS USEFUL TO THE FARMER' 
The bluebirds _ 
The robins _ 
The titmice _ 
The wrens _ 
Brown thrasher— 
Catbird _ 
The swallows _ 
Towhee _ 
The sparrows _ 
House finch _ 
The grackles _ 
Brewer blackbird 
Baltimore oriole- 
CONTENTS 
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o 
3 
4 
G 
8 
9 
9 
I 1 
12 
12 
13 
Riillock oriole_ 
The meadowlarks- 
The red-winged blackbirds 
Bobolink_ 
Crow_ 
Blue jay _ 
Pacific coast jays- 
The phoebes_ 
The kingbirds_ 
Niglithawk_ 
The woodpeckers_ 
The cuckoos_ 
Bobwhite___ 
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14 
15 
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25 
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28 
W HETHER a bird is beneficial or injurious depends almost 
entirely upon what it eats. In the case of species which are 
very abundant, or which feed to some extent on the crops of 
the farmer, the question of their average diet becomes one of supreme 
importance, and only by stomach examinations can it be satisfac¬ 
torily answered. Field observations are at best but fragmentary and 
inconclusive and lead to no final results. Birds are often accused 
of eating this or that product of cultivation, when an examination 
of the stomachs shows the accusation to be unfounded. Accordingly, 
the Biological Survey has conducted for some years a systematic 
investigation of the food of those species which are most common 
about the farm and garden. 
Within certain limits birds eat the kind of food that is most 
accessible, especially when their natural food is scarce or wanting. 
Thus they sometimes injure the crops of the farmer who has unin¬ 
tentionally destroyed their natural food in his improvement of 
swamp or pasture. Most of the damage done by birds and com¬ 
plained of by farmers and fruit growers arises from this very cause. 
The berry-producing shrubs and seed-bearing weeds have been cleared 
away, and the birds have no recourse but to attack the cultivated 
grain or fruit which has replaced their natural food supply. The 
great majority of land birds subsist upon insects during the period 
of nesting and molting, and also feed their young upon them during 
the first few weeks. Many species live almost entirely upon insects, 
taking vegetable food only when other subsistence fails. It is thus 
1 This bulletin supersedes Farmers’ Bulletin 630 . issued in 1915 by the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture—a contribution of the Bureau of Biological Survey, which was consolidated 
in 1940 with the Bureau of Fisheries to form the Fish and Wildlife Service, U. S. Depart¬ 
ment of the Interior. The parts relating to the crow and blue jay were contributed bv 
E R Kalmbach. Biologist, Division of Wildlife Research; and the discussion of the night 
hawk and bobwhite by W. L, Me A tee, Technical Advisor, Office of the Chief, Fish and 
Wildlife Service. 
1 
