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U.S.DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
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630 
Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey, Henry W. Henshaw, Chief. 
February 13, 1915. 
SOME COMMON BIRDS USEFUL TO THE FARMER. 
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By F. E. L. Beal, Assistant Biologist. 
CONTENTS. 
The bluebirds_ 
The robins_ 
The titmice_ 
The wrens_ 
Brown thrasher_ 
Catbird_ 
The swallows_ 
Towhee_ 
The sparrows_ 
House finch_ 
The grackles_ 
Brewer blackbird 
Baltimore oriole- 
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Bullock oriole_. _ 
The meadowlarks_ 
The red-winged blackbirds 
Bobolink_:- 
Crow_ 
Blue jay- 
Pacific coast jays- 
The phoebes_ 
The kingbirds- 
Nighthawk_ 
The woodpeckers- 
The cuckoos_ 
INTRODUCTION. 
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Whether a bird is beneficial or injurious depends almost entirely upon what 
it eats. In the case of species yvhich 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 examination can it be satis¬ 
factorily solved. Field observations are at best but fragmentary and incon¬ 
clusive 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 past 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, espe¬ 
cially when their natural food is scarce or wanting. Thus they sometimes in¬ 
jure the crops of the farmer who has unintentionally destroyed their natural food 
in his improvement of swamp or pasture. Most of the damage done by birds 
and complained of by farmers and fruit growers arises from this very cause. 
The berry-bearing shrubs and seed-bearing weeds have been cleared away, and 
the birds have no recourse but to attack the cultivated grain or fruit which have 
replaced their natural food supply. The great majority of land birds subsist 
upon insects during the period of nesting and moulting, 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 evident that in the course of a year birds destroy an incalculable number 
of insects, and it is difficult to overestimate the value of their services in re¬ 
straining the great tide of insect life. 
In winter, in the northern part of the country, insects become scarce or 
entirely disappear. Many species of birds, however, remain during the cold 
Note.— The habitat, food habits, and economic relation to agriculture of more than 50 
birds common to farming sections are discussed in this bulletin. It supersedes Farmers' 
Bulletin 54. 
G5755 0 —Bull. 630—15 
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