32 THEVA UDC BON BGS reiee 
or bit of prairie and watched him soar and flutter, often in circles, 
away to a safe distance, little discommoded by the bright sunlight, for 
this owl is only partially nocturnal. Probably ninety to ninety-five per 
cent of the food of this owl consists of field mice and other small quad- 
rupeds, and therefore it should not be killed. 
Of other birds than hawks and owls there are so many that I shall 
mention very few, selecting those which I am convinced are near one 
extreme or the other in their relation to agriculture and horticulture. 
At present I am able to name only five, that, from my personal knowl- 
edge of their habits, | would recommend as fit subjects for extermination. 
These are the English Sparrow, the Crow, and three kinds of Blackbirds, 
of which the first named stands first as an “‘undesirable citizen.” 
Although I have studied carefully the habits of the English Sparrow 
for nearly forty years, I find myself unable to say a single word in his 
favor, and entirely agree with a writer (whose name I have forgotten) 
who aptly characterizes the bird as a “‘feathered rat.” Not only does the 
English Sparrow increase so enormously as to crowd away from their 
homes the Martins, Swallows, Bluebirds, and other species (all insectiv- 
orous and useful) that nest in holes or about buildings, but he is a notori- 
ous destroyer of the buds of fruit trees, of grain, pea blossoms and green 
peas, devours a large percentage of the chicken feed, musses up our 
dwellings, barns, and other public buildings, and is a first-class nuisance 
generally. 
The three kinds of Blackbirds which are common in this part of the 
country without question destroy enormous numbers of grubs, cut- 
worms, beetles and insects of various sorts, as every farmer boy knows 
who has seen them follow the plow, and to this extent are highly bene- 
ficial. One of them (the cowbird) is perhaps also of some benefit in rid- 
ding cattle of ticks; but its parasitic habits (it never builds a nest of its 
own but deposits its eggs in the nest of some smaller bird, who hatches 
them and rears the young, usually at the sacrifice of its own offspring) 
have a decidedly different effect on the increase of other and more bene- 
ficial species. The common Crow Blackbird and Red-winged Blackbird 
destroy much corn, especially the Red-wing, whose depredations I have 
known to necessitate the replanting of a field several times in one season, 
but in this case the field was located near the breeding grounds of several 
hundred pairs. The Crow Blackbird (our largest species) is a confirmed 
cannibal, who ffom late spring to mid-summer subsists largely on the 
young of other birds, even after they have left the nest. I have twice 
seen one kill the young of that beautiful songster, the Brown Thrasher 
or Sandy Mockingbird, and on another occasion saw three of them each 
take a young Song Sparrow from the nest and fly away with it, while my 
wife saw a small flock of them swoop down on a brood of young Wrens 
that had just left the nesting box and devour every one of them before 
she could prevent it. 
