SOME COMMON BIRDS USEFUL TO THE FARMER. 
9 
It is a mistake to tear down from the eaves of a barn the nests of a colony of 
cliff swallows, for so far from disfiguring a building they make a picturesque 
addition to it, and the presence of swallows should be encouraged by every 
device. It is said that cliff and barn swallows may be induced to build their 
nests in a particular locality, otherwise suitable, by providing a quantity of 
mud to be used by them as mortar. Barn swallows may also be encouraged by 
cutting a small hole in the gable of the barn, while martins and white-bellied 
swallows will be grateful for boxes like those for the bluebird, but placed in a 
higher situation. 
TOWHEE. 
The towhee, chewink, or ground robin 1 (fig. 8), as it is variously known, 
inhabits nearly the whole of the United States east of the Great Plains. It 
breeds from the Middle States northward and winters in the southern half of 
the country. Naturally associated with the catbird and brown thrasher, it 
lives in much the same places, though it is more given to haunting hedgerows 
along roads and fences. After snow has disappeared in early spring an investi¬ 
gation of the rustling so often 
heard among the leaves near a 
fence or in a thicket will fre¬ 
quently disclose a towhee hard at 
work scratching for his dinner 
after the manner of a hen; and in 
these places and along the sunny 
border of woods old leaves will be 
found overturned where the bird 
has been searching for hibernat¬ 
ing beetles and larvae. The good 
which the towhee does in this 
way can hardly be overestimated, 
since the death of a single insect 
at this time, before it has had 
an opportunity to deposit its eggs, 
is equivalent to the destruction of 
a host later in the year. The towhee has also been credited with visiting potato 
fields and feeding upon the potato beetle. Its vegetable food consists of seeds 
and small wild fruits, but no complaint on this score is known to have been 
made. So far as observation goes, the bird never touches either cultivated fruit 
or grain; in fact, it is too shy and retiring even to stay about gardens for any 
length of time. 
THE SPARROWS. 2 
Sparrows are not obtrusive birds, either in plumage, song, or action. There 
are some 40 species, with nearly as many subspecies, in North America. Not 
more than half a dozen forms are generally known in any one locality. All the 
species are more or less migratory, but so widely are they distributed that there is 
probably no part of the country where some can not be found throughout the year. 
While sparrows are noted seed eaters, they do not by any means confine 
themselves to a vegetable diet. During the summer, and especially in the 
breeding season, they eat many insects and feed their young largely upon the 
same food. Examination of stomachs of three species—the song sparrow 3 
(fig. 9), chipping sparrow, 4 and field sparrow 5 (fig. 10)—shows that about one- 
Ihird of the food consists of insects, comprising many injurious beetles, as 
snout beetles or weevils, and leaf beetles. Many grasshoppers are eaten. In 
the case of the chipping sparrow these insects form one-eighth of the food. 
Grasshoppers would seem to be rather large morsels, but the bird probably 
confines itself to the smaller species; indeed, the greatest amount (over 36 per 
1 Pipilo erythrophthalmus. 
2 The sparrows here mentioned are all native species. A full account of the English, 
or house, sparrow ( Passer domesticus), including its introduction, habits, and depreda¬ 
tions, was published in Bui. No. 1 of the Division of Ornithology in 1889. For informa¬ 
tion in regard to combating the English sparrow, see Farmers’ Bulletin 49.3, The English 
Sparrow as a Pest, by Ned Dearborn, 1912. 
3 Melospiza melodia. 
4 gpizella passerina. 
6 gpizella pusilla. 
65755°—Bull. 630—15 
2 
