10 
FINS, FEATHERS AND FUR 
THE FEATHERED FRIENDS OF THE RED 
RIVER VALLEY 
Contest for Red River Valley Schools—Spring 
of 1917 
Winner of Grand Sweepstakes Prize: One six- 
months’ scholarship, Crookston Business College. 
(Written by Gladys McCann, R. No. 1, B. No. 
67, Detroit, Minn.; age, 15; 8th grade, District 
No. 69, Becker county; teacher’s name, Aurelia 
Disselkamp.) 
The most common and best known birds of the 
Red River Valley are the robin, wren, catbird, 
swallow, oriole, meadowlark, blackbird, bobolink, 
bluejay, phoebe, towee, fly catcher, oven-bird, 
woodpecker, martin, cow u bird, king-bird and 
crow. 
Most of these birds are great singers and near¬ 
ly all are worm, insect and weed seed destroyers. 
Most of the singing birds are small, such as 
the song sparrow, wren, goldfinch and brown 
thrasher. 
The robin is an excellent singer but is one of 
the larger birds. It is about eight inches long, 
has a red breast, brownish back, tail and wings. 
It is one of the early arrivers of spring, and 
stays till late in the fall. 
It builds its nest of twigs and grass and lines 
it with mud and finer grasses. It is usually 
placed in the crotch of an oak or fruit tree. The 
robin lays from three to five greenish-blue eggs, 
which will hatch in about two weeks’ time. 
The young robins require their own weight in 
worms daily. 
The oriole is closely related to the robin, but 
isn’t quite as large and of a brighter color. Its 
nest is hung in a tall tree and is made of soft 
materials, such as bits of cotton, wool and small 
strings. It is made rather long, with an opening 
at the top just large enough for the bird to creep 
into. It lays three to five eggs about the size 
of robbins’ eggs and they hatch in about the 
same length of time. 
The bluebird is another noted singer and builds 
its nest in a hollow tree and sometimes a vacant 
bird house. It lays from four to six eggs. The 
male bird is of a bright blue color, while female 
is a light brown. 
The woodpecker chooses to make its nest in 
the trunk of a tree by drilling out a hole just 
large enough to get into at first and larger on 
the inside. It is lined with soft materials and 
contains from two to four eggs about the size 
of robins’ eggs. The young are fed on worms 
only. 
Wrens will build their nests in old shoes, 
boxes, old buildings, and have been known to 
build in pockets of garments on the clothes line. 
A friend of mine once taking a washing from the 
clothes line discovered that a wren had built a 
nest in the pocket of an apron and laid an egg in 
it during one day. 
Their building material consists of small twigs 
and soft, fine materials for lining. They lay 
from five to nine brown speckled eggs. 
The marsh wren is entirely different from the 
house wren. The house wren has a sweet voice, 
while marsh wren has only a chirp. 
It is rarely found out of the marsh during the 
summer. It builds a large, bulky nest of grass, 
with a small hole to go into near the bottom, and 
lays five or six small brown eggs. 
The bobolink, meadow lark and whip-poor-will 
build their nests on the ground. The meadow 
lark usually builds in a meadow or grassy place, 
under a bunch of tall grass or by a stone. Their 
eggs are about as large as a quail s eggs. 
The blackbirds gather together in large flocks 
when they sing. Hundreds will perch in one tree 
and sing. 
The blackbird builds its nest in bushes, swamps 
and large weeds and are very cute in hiding it. 
The nest contains three or four small white eggs. 
This bird feeds freely in fields and stockyards 
and attends to getting his share of the ripe fruit 
in the fall. 
The male is rather a greenish-black color, while 
the female is a lighter black. 
The swallow is a bird about six inches long, 
a glossy black color and a family of several spe¬ 
cies. 
The bank swallow builds its nest in a sand 
bank and the building material consists of sticks 
and mud lined with thistle down or some soft 
thing. 
The chimney swallow or chimney swift some¬ 
times becomes a nuisance by carrying mud into 
the chimneys. Its nest consists of mud and they 
build in chimneys and even in stoves of vacant 
schoolhouses, churches and such buildings. They 
lay five or six small white eggs. 
The barn swallow builds a large nest under the 
eves of the barn. They build of mud and small 
pieces of moss. 
Birds are of great benefit to the farmer be¬ 
cause of the harmful worms, insects and weed 
seed they destroy every year. 
Their chief food consists of worms, insects, 
weed seed and wild berries and in case this sup¬ 
ply is limited they are apt to be of great dam¬ 
age to the grainfields and orchards. 
During hatching and moulting season they live 
upon bugs and insects and feed their young on 
insects for the first few weeks. 
The robin, especially, is a great destroyer of 
worms. Cutworms are destroyed in great num¬ 
bers, as well as bugs and worms that attack fruit 
trees and small shrubs. 
Caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles and various 
other insects are destroyed chiefly by the blue¬ 
bird. The destruction of grasshoppers in August 
and September is noticeable and during that time 
are the chief food of the bluebird and about fifty- 
three per cent of its diet. 
Chickadees are fond of bread crumbs and will 
eat vegetables. 
Martins are not only insect destroyers, but are 
very useful on a chicken farm, as they will allow 
no hawks around. A martin is one of the hawk’s 
worst enemies. 
Nearly all birds are favoring the farmer some 
way, and even the crow, the bird most hated by 
the farmer, earns his board by destroying grub¬ 
worms. 
Birds have their enemies as well as insects 
have theirs. Cats, especially, cause them a great 
deal of disturbance. Hawks, crows and such 
large birds destroy nests, eggs and small birds 
as well as old ones. When a nest is once dis¬ 
turbed the old birds usually leave it entirely. 
Boys sometimes employ themselves by throw¬ 
ing stones at birds and robbing the nests of the 
cgffs, which is one of the most cruel deeds a boy 
can do. 
Birds can be protected with little or no 
trouble. They deserve good protection from 
farmers especially. One good protection is by 
