HOUSE AND GARDEN 
November, 
1913 
343 
common sparrow run into the thousands 
or even millions, over a given space of 
country, we can begin to realize what an 
enormous force they are as weed seed 
destroyers. The average farmer thinks he 
has enough to contend with as it is, in 
keeping down the grass and weeds which 
threaten to choke his crops, but it is pos¬ 
sible that his labors might be much greater 
were it not for the activities of the little 
sparrows. 
Prof. Beal of Washington, who is uni¬ 
versally recognized as the greatest expert 
on the relationship of birds to agriculture 
in this country, published an article in the 
New York Tribune in 1881 in which he 
estimated the amount of weed seed an¬ 
nually destroyed by the tree sparrow in 
the State of Iowa. Upon the basis of one- 
quarter of an ounce of seed eaten daily 
by each bird, which was certainly a con¬ 
servative estimate, and supposing that the 
birds averaged ten to each square mile and 
that they remained on their winter range 
two hundred days, he computed that the 
tree sparrows of that State destroyed eight 
hundred and seventy-five tons of weed 
seeds in a single season. These figures fall 
far short of the reality, for many in¬ 
dividual square miles may easily be found 
to contain ten thousand tree sparrows, in¬ 
stead of ten. 
We found several of them on the ground 
near the tree where the downy woodpecker 
was feeding. At our approach, they took 
wing and alighted in a small cedar nearby 
from which they regarded our movements 
with interest while they voiced their con¬ 
tentment with many happy chirps. 
Just then a blue jay shouted out in front 
of the house, and as we went in quest of 
him we suddenly came upon a flock of 
crossbills—rare visitors from Canada, 
feeding on the seeds in the pine cones. 
“The mischievous red squirrels tried to 
destroy these cones in the autumn,” said 
my guide, “and I was continually forced 
to chase them ofif — otherwise the crossbills 
would not have come.” 
Few people realize the damage done to 
the grain and small fruit trees by the vari¬ 
ous species of field mice and other forms 
of rodents. In the summer most house 
mice go outdoors and add their destructive 
effects to the nor.mal population of the 
woods and fields. 
All wild creatures have their enemies, 
planned as if by Nature to prevent their 
becoming too numerous. It is to hawks, 
and particularly to owls, that we look for 
protection from the various little rodents 
which we so seldom see afield, but whose 
depredations are so very much in evidence 
in everv garden and on every farm in the 
land. The number of rats and mice which 
they destroy is simply beyond computation. 
Many States in the Union have shown a 
tardy interest in protecting the wild bird 
life, but now the United States Govern¬ 
ment has taken a hand and, by the new 
Federal Migratory Bird Law which went 
into effect October 1, 1913, our insectivor¬ 
ous birds will in future be far better 
guarded than ever before. 
The Countryside Magazine 
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