April 8, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
557 
floor. Such insects are sought hut,by scratch¬ 
ing birds, like the partridge, brown thrasher 
and chewink. 
The trunks and limbs of trees are pierced by 
the larva; of boring beetles. These grubs cut 
channels or burrow in the wood. Other species, 
known as dark beetles, tunnel between the bark 
and the wood. 
The grubs of boring insects are dug out of 
their hiding places by woodpeckers, These 
birds are of great service, for a borer will some¬ 
times kill a tree, and a single woodpecker often 
destroys many borers in a day. Insects that 
hide in the crevices of the bark are sought by 
prying chicadees, creepers and nuthatchers. In¬ 
sects that eat buds and leaves are hunted by 
warblers, vireos, thrushes, orioles, tanagers, 
cuckoos—a host of birds that feed much among 
the foliage of trees. Insects that reach the 
flight stage and fly about among the treetops 
arc taken on the wing by warblers and fly¬ 
catchers. 
Those that escape all these and test their new- 
grown wings by longer flights are chased by 
flycatchers; while those that reach the upper 
air are pursued by swallows, swifts or night- 
hawks. 
When we realize that the unchecked increase 
of one species of insects might easily be suf¬ 
ficient in a few seasons to enable it to destroy 
most of the trees of the woods, and when we 
consider that the birds restrain the increase of 
hundreds of species of insects, then we can ap¬ 
preciate the value of birds as protectors of 
trees. It is now well understood that the birds 
and other natural enemies of insects ordinarily 
keep most tree pests so well in check that they 
do no great or serious injury to trees. 
When it is stated on good authority that the 
people of the United States have suffered from 
the ravages of insect pests to the extent of 
about $700,000,000 in a single year, when the 
agriculture of the small State of Massachusetts 
is said to lose nearly $5,000,000 annually from 
the attacks of insects, it is time to look about 
us to see how we can get help in the war against 
them; it is time to do something to increase the 
numbers of the creatures that feed upon these 
insects. 
But possibly the most useful bird to crops is 
the boBwhite, the common partridge. The agri¬ 
cultural reports of the Southern States, especi¬ 
ally Virginia, show that annually several hun¬ 
dred tons of pernicious weed seeds are de¬ 
stroyed by bobwhites alone. 
It is figured that from Sept. 1 to April 30 
annually in Virginia alone the total consump¬ 
tion of weed seed by bobwhites amounts to 573 
tons. 
Some of the pests which it habitually destroys, 
the report says, are the Mexican cotton boll 
weevil, which damages the cotton crop upward 
of $15,000,000 a year; the potato beetle, which 
cut off $10,000,000 from the value of the potato 
crop; the cotton worms, which have been known 
to cause $30,000,000 loss in a year; the chinch 
bug and the Rocky Mountain locust, scourges 
which leave desolation in their path and have 
caused losses to the extent of $100,000,000 in 
some years. 
While we can do little to multiply those use¬ 
ful insects that feed upon other insects, we can 
protect useful birds, and so bring about their 
increase. An increase of birds always occurs 
where conditions are favorable. Tree planting 
in the prairie States was followed by a multi¬ 
plication of the numbers of insectivorous birds. 
One of the best possible ways to observe 
arbor day is by planting trees, shrubbery and 
vines that will produce food for the birds to 
eat. Trees like the mountain ash, that retain 
their fruit in winter, are very attractive to birds. 
Such shrubs as the barberry and sumach and 
vines like the Virginia creeper or woodbine also 
furnish fruit for birds in the late fall and winter. 
There are many trees, shrubs and vines which 
bear fruit that is not eaten by human kind, but 
is acceptable and nourishing to birds. The 
Russian mulberry is one of the most valuable 
trees to plant, as its fruit ripens early, and 
many birds prefer it to early cherries or straw¬ 
berries. 
Cone-bearing trees should be planted in 
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