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NOILWNIWS3LXS 40 YSONVG NI (S061) MON
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Seve ZIsSseBy sino7Ty Aq ‘So6r ‘yy s1uAdoD
S&
795
md
&\° USEFUL BIRDS
SNe brhetk PROTECTION,
CONTAINING
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MORE COMMON AND USEFUL SPECIES OF
MASSACHUSETTS, WITH ACCOUNTS OF THEIR FOOD HABITS,
AND A CHAPTER ON THE MEANS OF ATTRACT-
ING AND PROTECTING BIRDS.
BY
EDWARD HOWE FORBUSH,
ORNITHOLOGIST TO THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOARD OF
AGRICULTURE.
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR,
C. ALLAN LYFORD, CHESTER A. REED, AND OTHERS.
ag SON,
f™ ay
C-:
Oh ARIES
PUBLISHED UNDER DIRECTION OF
THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
BY AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE.
APPROVED BY
THE STATE BOARD OF PUBLICATION.
PRINTED BY
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS,
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
Commonwealth of sHassachusetts.
Resolves of 1905, Chapter 51.
A RESOLVE TO PROVIDE FOR PREPARING AND PRINTING A SPECIAL
REPORE ON THE BIRDS OF TIE COMMONWEALTH.
Resolved, That there be allowed and paid out of the treasury of the
Commonwealth a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars for prepar-
ing and printing, under the direction of the state board of agriculture, in
an edition of five thousand copies, a special report'on the birds of the
Commonwealth, economically considered, to include the facts relating
to the usefulness of birds and the necessity for their protection already
ascertained by the ornithologist of the state board of agriculture, to be
distributed as follows : —Two copies to each free public library in the
Commonwealth ; two copies to each high school, and two copies to such
schools in towns which have no high school as the school committee
may designate; one copy to the library of congress, and one copy to
sach state or territorial library in the United States; twenty-five copies
to the state library; five copies to the governor; two copies to the lieu-
tenant governor and each member of the council; two copies to the
secretary of the Commonwealth; two copies to the treasurer and re-
ceiver general; two copies to the auditor of accounts ; twocopies to the
attorney-general, and one copy to each member of the present general
court applying for the same; the remainder to be distributed under the
direction of the state board of agriculture. [Approved April 14, 1905.
PREFACE.
In preparing and submitting this report the fact has been
kept in mind that the material prosperity of the state and
nation depends very largely on agricultural pursuits. An
attempt has been made, therefore, to make the volume ser-
viceable to both agriculturist and horticulturist. The author
of this report believes, with Townend Glover, that an ac-
quaintance with the useful birds of the farm is as important
to the farmer as is a knowledge of the insect pests which
attack his crops. Those who open this volume expecting
to find within its covers a guide to the birds, a manual
for the collector, or a systematic account of the birds of
Massachusetts, will be disappointed, for its scope is chiefly
economic,
The plan of the report as outlined before the legislative
committees has been followed to the letter.
In undertaking the work, the author has attempted to
counteract in some measure the effects of some phases of
modern civilization and intensive farming which operate to
destroy or drive out the birds; and it is hoped that the book
will be of some service as a source of useful information for
the bird protectionist. As no report prepared with such a
purpose can exert much influence unless widely read, it has
been written in a popular style, with little scientific verbiage.
A part of the material was prepared between the years
1891 and 1900, during the author’s experience as field di-
rector for the State Board of Agriculture in the work of
destroying the gipsy moth. Chapters I. and II. are partly
composed of revised and rewritten portions of papers pub-
lished during that time. Chapter III. is based largely on
observations made during that period by two faithful, capable
workers, — Messrs. C. EK. Bailey and F. H. Mosher. Owing
vl PREFACE.
to Mr. Bailey’s untimely death and Mr. Mosher’s occupation
in a new field, it was deemed best to publish some of the
field notes of these observers with little editing, in order to
avoid any possible distortion of their evidence.
In presenting in Chapter I. some of the evidence, given by
the earlier writers, regarding the utility of birds as protectors
of crops and trees, it has been necessary to use such material
as was obtainable. No carefully guarded experiments or
observations in this direction were made until the latter part
of the nineteenth century, and it is only recently that scien-
tific investigators have been employed in this little-known
field. It is not an alluring task for the scientist, in which
his work brings him neither material reward, credit, nor
honor.
That portion of the final chapter which treats of the means
of attracting birds is drawn mainly from six years’ experience
at the author’s home at Wareham, Mass. The first three
chapters were mainly written there. Most authors quoted
or cited in these chapters are given full credit.
The remaining chapters, which are largely based on the
author’s own investigations and observations, were written
and the proof was read while he was away from home, in the
woods, or travelling from place to place, often at a distance
from any ornithological library. Under such circumstances
it was impossible to quote verbatim, but in most cases authors
are named when facts have been gathered from their writings.
The averages of the components of the food of each species
are taken mainly from the publications of the Bureau of Bio-
logical Survey of the United States Department of Agricul-
ture, except where credit is otherwise given.
Thanks are due to Dr. L. O. Howard, who has read
critically that part of the introduction devoted to insects,
and the author is greatly indebted to him for information ;
also, more than he can tell, to Mr. William Brewster for
counsel and suggestions ; and especially to Mr. J. A. Farley,
who read a large part of the manuscript.
The limited time at the author’s disposal has prevented
such painstaking revision and abridgment of the manuscript
PREFACE. vil
as would be required to attain the highest literary excellence ;
but both manuscript and proof were critically read by Mrs.
A. Drew, whose work has added much to the appearance of
the volume, and whose suggestions have been very valuable.
Mr. F. H. Fowler has placed the author under great obli-
gations by doing a large amount of clerical work, and giv-
ing much assistance in his official position as first clerk and
librarian of the State Board of Agriculture.
The scientific ornithological nomenclature is that of the
American Ornithologists Union. The grouping of birds
according to their habitats (as birds of woodland, ete.) is
based more on their food habits than on their choice of
nesting sites. This classification is of necessity arbitrary,
and not always consistent, for it is sometimes influenced by
other considerations, such as are evident in the inclusion of
the Whip-poor-will among birds of the air.
The nomenclature of plants is mainly that used by Britton
and Brown in their Flora of the Northern United States,
Canada, and the British Possessions, except in some cases
where Dr. Judd or other authors are quoted. That of insects
has been derived from various sources at different times,
and for this reason some of the scientific names are not the
latest.
In the original plan of the report no descriptions of species
were included; but the suggestion was made by Mr. J. A.
Farley that it would be useless to descant to a man on the
usefulness of the Chickadee if he did not know the bird.
The brief, untechnical descriptions of bird, nest, eggs, and
bird notes, and the illustrations of the species, are all in-
tended as helps to identification. The descriptions of birds
are calculated merely to call attention to the principal colors
and marks that serve to identify birds afield. Brief descrip-
tions of haunts, habits, and manners are also given, as guides
to identity.
A species that is found throughout the year within the
limits of the State is denominated a resident. No attempts
have been made to give fixed dates of arrival and departure,
for these vary somewhat in different parts of the State, as
Vill PREFACE.
well as in different seasons; but the months in which each
species is most commonly seen are given. For example,
the season for the Tree Swallow is given as April to Septem-
ber; but no mention is made of the fact that it sometimes
appears in small numbers in March; neither is it stated that
this bird has been seen in flocks in southeastern Massachu-
setts in late October and even in November, for such occur-
rences are unusual. It may be taken for granted that most
of the insect-eating birds that arrive in March or April come
in the latter part of those months, while most of those that
depart for the south in September or October leave in the
earlier weeks of their respective months.
Our attempts to represent the songs of birds in printed
syllables are not often of much assistance to the beginner,
for they lack the variation, quality, and expression of bird
songs, and birds do not sing in syllables. Also, the imagi-
nation of the writer often greatly affects these syllabic rendi-
tions, as may be seen by comparing the various sentences
attributed by different people to the White-throated Sparrow.
Nevertheless, some such imitations of bird songs which are
now accepted and are quite generally considered helpful are
given in this report; in other cases the author’s own inter-
pretations of well-marked bird notes are given.
The line cuts of birds, nesting boxes, appliances, etc., are
mainly reproductions of the author’s pen and ink sketches
and drawings. The attitudes have been caught by sketch-
ing the living birds afield; but as most of the drawings were
necessarily made in winter, the measurements and the details
of markings were taken mainly from bird skins. While this
method does not give so good results as does the use of the
dead bird, it obviates the necessity of killing birds for the pur-
pose. The sketches for Figs. 19, 22, 23, and 25 were sug-
gested by half-tone plates in American Ornithology. Figs.
1, 27, 53, 71; 73, 79, 109, 113-117, 142, and 143 were made
from pen drawings by Lewis E. Forbush. The wood-cuts
of insects were taken chiefly from Harris’s Insects Injurious
to Vegetation, Flint’s Manual of Agriculture, and various
papers published by Dr. A. S. Packard while serving as ento-
mologist to the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture.
PREFACE. 1X
Mr. C. Allan Lyford has given valuable assistance in taking
photographs illustrating bird feeding, nesting boxes, ete.
The author is also greatly indebted to Messrs. C. A. and
C. K. Reed for the use of half-tone plates from American
Ornithology ; to Mr. Frank M. Chapman, the Massachusetts
Commission on Fisheries and Game, Mr. A. C. Dike, and
others, to whom credit is given in the text or captions, for
the use of photographs, half-tone plates, or cuts; and to
Messrs. William Brewster and Ralph Holman for the use of
bird skins. Plates VI. and VII. are from E. A. Samuels.
The credit for the publication of this volume rightly be-
longs to the State Board of Agriculture, which, through its
secretary, introduced and advocated the resolve providing
for preparing and printing; to the Massachusetts Audubon
Society, which supported the resolve before the Legislature ;
to the various associations, officials, and friends who upheld
the resolve ; and to those members of the House and Senate
who were instrumental in securing the appropriation which
made possible the production of the report. For its many
shortcomings the author alone is responsible.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY. — THE UTILITY OF BIRDS IN NATURE, . : c
CHAPTER I.—THE VALUE OF BrirRDS TO MAN, . A 5 5
Primitive Man's Relations to Nature,
Changed Relations produced by Agriculture, . : : ; .
Man at War with Nature in the New World, . j 3 : b :
The Increase of Insect Pests, . ; j ; Z 5 3 Fi ;.
The Number of Insects, . 6 5 : : : : : : 5
The Reproductive Capacity of Insects, . ; ; ; 5 :
The Voracity of Insects, . P ; : : ; : : 3
The Great Loss to American Agriculture by Insect Ravages, .
Losses by Insect Ravages in Massachusetts, . : 3
The Capacity of Birds for destroying Pests, . c : ¢ 9 :
The Digestion of Birds, . ; é 6 : : : 2
The Growth of Young Birds, . : : : : : : a
The Amount of Food required by Young Birds, : : : 5
The Time required for Assimilation of Food, . : : ; :
The Number of Insects eaten by Young Birds in the Nest,
The Amount of Food eaten by Adult Birds, —. : : : :
Birds save Trees and Crops from Destruction,
The Increase of Injurious Insects following the Destruction of Birds,
The Destruction of Injurious Mammals by Birds,
The Value of Water-birds and Shore Birds, . 5
The Commercial Value of Birds, . 9 4 j ; 5 5
The Esthetic, Sentimental, and Educational Value of Birds, 4
CHAPTER II.— THE UTILITY OF BIRDS IN WOODLANDS,
The Relations of the Bird to the Tree, . ‘
The Forest Planters, : ; : : 4 A F ; : F
The Influence exerted by Birds and Squirrels on the Succession of
Forest Trees, 5 , : i ; é
The Tree Pruners, . j : ; . : c
The Guardians of the Trees, . : j ‘ j
CHAPTER III.— Brrps As DESTROYERS OF HAIRY CATERPILLARS AND
PLANT LICE,
CHAPTER LV.— THE Economic SERVICE OF BIRDS IN THE ORCHARD,
CHAPTER V.—SonG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND,
Woodland Thrushes, ; p : : : : :
Kinglets, . A : : ‘ : é : ,
Nuthatches and Tits, ‘ A i 3 A 5 : ,
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.—SonG BrrRDs OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND — Con. PAGE
Creepers, . : : ; 4 . > 5 : 5 : : eeelint
Thrashers and Mockingbirds, . : ; . ‘ A a 7 Hin l7esi
Warblers, . A . 5 : : = ; 3 : . 185
Vireos, . : - 5 3 ¢ : : 3 5 4 c . 203
Waxwings, 4 2 : - é 9 : - 2 - 4 209
Tanagers, . é . : : : : 5 - a . 211
Finches, Grosbeaks, and Towhees, . , 0 2 : = . 215
Blackbirds, Grackles, Orioles, etc., . 4 : ‘ 3 - . . 224
CHAPTER VI.—SonGLESS BrrRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND, . . 229
Flycatchers, . : ¢ C - : : : 2 : ; = 229
Hummingbirds, 2 - : : 5 : - : 3 : . 240
Woodpeckers, . ° : c : - : . s < : . 245
Cuckoos, Kingtishers, etc., 0 & ‘ ; 4 5 A ‘ » 262
Grouse, Partridges, etc., . : ; : . 5 : 3 ‘ . 266
CHAPTER VII.—THE Utinity or BIRDS IN FIELD AND GARDEN, . . 210
CHAPTER VIII.— Birps or FIELD AND GARDEN, A 2 A . 282
Thrushes and their Allies, 5 ; : : ‘ é C : . 282
Wrens, . ; : : : ; 5 : i ‘ ; cl ~ 292
Sparrows, . : : é ; : : . . . : : . 294
3lackbirds, Grackles, etc., 5 ‘ j F : d 4 : + Ole
Pigeons and Doves, . 4 . ; j ;: ‘ ; . 5 ee
Grouse, Partridges, ete., . 2 " : z : : - , 5 BPD
Pheasants, 5 ; ; : ; j : : : 5 ; Rane
Snipe, Sandpipers, Woodcock, ete., p - : : : 4 2 Oot
CHAPTER IX.— BIRDS OF THE AIR, . 5 . 4 3 : : . 309
Swifts, c A 4 : : 2 6 3 ; : 3 5 . 340
Nighthawks, Whip-poor-wills, etc., 5 : c : : : . oFl
Swallows, : 5 ; : A : ‘ : . 0 = . o43
CHAPTER X.— Birps OF MARSH AND WATERSIDE, . a 5 a . 349
Perching Birds, , 5 é : § : : 4 ; ; . 349
Rails, : : : 2 5 ; : é ‘ : , : 5 oii0)
Herons, . : : . ‘< : : 3 é : é ; Pool
Water-fowl, . a C 5 A “ ; : : $ : 5 S83
CHAPTER XI.— CHECKS UPON THE INCREASE OF USEFUL BirRDs, . . 304
The Destruction of Birds by Man, . . : : : é : y oie
The Natural Enemies of Birds, , . A : : . F 5 BRO
Introduced Four-footed Enemies, . F : : : ; ; ~ ood
Jats, . . . : G : 5 : : ; 5 . . 362
Native Four-footed Enemies, . : : 5 ; F : ; . 364
Squirrels, . : , : ; : . ; : ; A . 364
Rats and Mice, . ‘ : : : : : , F 2 . 366
Feathered Enemies, : “ : x E A 5 : - 700
Hawks, : a : : ; ; ‘ = ; A A . 366
Owls, . ; ; ; : : A : 5 : - S 5 ay)
Crows and Jays, : = < A > : . : . 368
CONTENTS. CTT
CHAPTER XI,— CHECKS UPON THE INCREASE OF USEFUL BIRDS — Con. PAGE
Feathered Enemies — Oon.
The House Sparrow, . ¢ . 370
Shrikes, . : : A é 370
Other Bird Enemies, . - : 5 : 371
Reptilian Enemies, 6 C 5 oT1
Fish, A : C 6 ; 371
CHAPTER XII.— THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS, 0 5 372
Methods of attracting Birds, 373
Feeding and Assembling the Winter Birds, —. 5 c ; 5 oMitl
Attracting the Summer Birds, 0 : : 384
Providing Nesting Places about Buildings, c d : F . 386
Bird Houses and Nesting Boxes, 6 ‘ 388
Furnishing Nesting Material, ;: 5 9 5 398
Feeding the Summer Birds, 4 399
Attracting Water-fowl, : 402
The Protection of Birds against their Natural Enemies, . 5 : . 403
The Protection of Farm Products from Birds, . : ¢ 410
To protect Grain from Crows and Other Birds, . : 2 : . 411
To protect Small Fruits, 412
To protect Chickens from Hawks and Crows, . ; : : . 412
General Protective Measures, 413
Game Protection, 414
Measures and Legislation necessary for the Protection of Game and
Birds, . :
Artificial Propagation of Game Birds,
The Movement for Bird Protection,
. : . ° - . 415
° < c 6 ali
° ° : : 2 . 418
Papers on Ornithology, published by the Massachusetts State Board of
Agriculture, 6
NDE: : é
¢ t : 4 : - 421
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
FicurE 1.—The Archopteryx, . : : : ; c : : 5
FiGuRE 2.— Ground Beetle, . : ; ; ; ‘é ‘ : ‘ : 9
FIGURE 3.—Cutworm, . : ; 6 3 : 5 c ; ec ala
FicurE 4.— Noctuid Moth, . F 2 : i : . : c 9 Jul
FiGuRE 5.—Fly and its Larva, . a , 5 ¢ : : : a 4
FiGuRE 6.— Chestnut Beetle or Weevil, A ‘ : 5 ‘ : . 14
FiGurRe 7.— Caterpillars, the Larvee of Buttertlies, :
FIGURE 8.— Pupe or Chrysalids, . : : C 7 .
FIGURE 9.— Predaceous Beetle, the Lion Beetle or Caterpillar Hunter, . 18
Ficure 10.— Predaceous Beetle, a Tiger among Insects, : 5 ‘ oils
Ficure 11.— Hymenopterous Parasite, . 3 - : 3 : - 18
Frcure 12.— Host Caterpillar with Cocoons of a Parasite upon its Back, . 19
FiGurRE 13.— Tiger Beetle, . E : . 3 : 5 5 : 5) ie)
Ficgure 14.—Chinch Bug, . i F . ; ‘ . ; : a = PA
FIGURE 15.— Colorado Potato Beetle, . ‘ 5 2 ‘ ; a)
Figure 16.— Hessian Fly, . : : : : , ; i 33
Fiaure 17.— Alimentary Canal of Bluebird, Z : ; e , 41
FicurE 18.— Young Cedar Bird on its First Day, : : d . 42
FicurE i9.— Young Cedar Birds less than Three Weeks old. : 43
Ficure 20.— Young Grouse, ‘ A : : ; 5 : 3 . 43
Figure 21.— Young Woodcock, . 5 5 : é ‘ : & . 44
FiGurRE 22.— Young Robins, ‘ . ; F : : : é . 44
FicurE 23.— Young Crows, . : 5 ; ; ; : : ; 49
Ficurr 24.— Passenger Pigeon feeding by Regurgitation, . : 52
FiGuRE 25.— Chipping Sparrow feeding Young, . ¢ ; : é oD
Ficure 26.— Yellow-throat catching Birch Aphids, : 5 CB
FIGURE 27.— Western Cricket, . 3 : . : : : 5 (as
Figure 28.—Gulls saving Crops by killing Crickets, . : : “ . 66
FiGcurRE 29.— Warblers destroying Plant Lice, é ; ; : ; 5 fl
FicurRE 30.—The Winged Seed of White Pine, . ; : : ; 5 wey
FrGurRE 31.— A Forest Planter, . : 5 : : c : : . 94
FIGURE 32.—Ruffed Grouse, ‘‘ budding,” . . s : - ; . 99
FIGURE 33.— The Diligent Titmouse, . 5 : ; ; ; 5 . 101
FicurE 34.— Winter Tree Guards, é 5 : : ; : : . 104
Figure 35.— Destructive Bark Beetle, 5 5 C : : : LOT
FiIGuRE 36.— Woodpecker hunting Borers, . : . : . ; » LOT
FIGURE 37.— Larva of the Cecropia Moth, . : 5 . “ a hy
XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE .
Ficure 38.— Woolly Bear Caterpillar, , : 5 é 5 - 720
FicureE 39.— Yellow Bear Caterpillar, . : ° : : é . 120
Ficure 40.— Caterpillar of the White-marked Tussock Moth, . 2 - 121
Figure 41.— Web of the Brown-tail Moth Caterpillar, : : ¢ . 130
FiGure 42.— Nashville Warbler, . : : 5 : 3 : 4 ils:
FiGure 43.— Caterpillar of the Brown-tail Moth, 2 : t : . 133
Ficurer 44.— Warblers feeding on Young Caterpillars of the Gipsy Moth, . 155
Ficure 45.— Egg Cluster of the Gipsy Moth, 0 < : . a . 148
Figure 46.— Wilson’s Thrush, . ; é 4 ‘ : ‘ 3 5 lair
FicurRe 47.— Wood Thrush, - ; E : ; A 5 A las
FiGureE 48.— Golden-crowned Kinglet, C = - : - : . 161
Ficure 49. — Chickadee, “ ; : 5 : 5 A ; ; . 164
FiIGuRE 50.— Eggs of the Tent Caterpillar Moth, 5 - - : elon
FicureE 51.—Codling Moth, Parent of the Apple Worm, . ; : . 168
FIGurRE 52.— Fall Cankerworm Moth, . ; : 2 2 ¢ : - 169
FIGURE 53.— Apple Twig with Eggs of the Cankerworm Moth, . é . 169
FiGurE 54.— White-breasted Nuthatch, ‘ ‘ ; ‘ ‘ : te)
FIGuRE 55.— Nuthateches, . : . 6 ; 9 “ : : ole}
FiIGcurE 56.— Wood-boring Beetle, 6 : é : - - : .- 175
Figure 57.— Red-breasted Nuthatch, . 3 : ‘ : ‘ A a ln
FrIGuRE 58. — Brown Creeper, : - c : ; o : : Lei
FIGURE 59.— Brown Thrasher, ; 0 S c : 5 5 . 180
Figure 60.—Catbird, . : 2 : : : : 5 5 = 182
FiGuRE 61.— Northern Yellow-throat, . ; é é c - - pea ksir¢
FIGurReE 62.— Oven-bird and Nest, 5 5 : - “ 0 : .. 189
HicuRE 63.— Black and White: Warbler,» 0)" 22.) Mtue stirs) 2. eee IG
FiGcure 64.— Chestnut-sided Warbler, . : 3 3 6 F é 5. G5:
Figure 65.— Yellow Warbler, . $ 5 A 5 é : = 7 LOS
FIGURE 66.— American Redstart, : 4 2 5 : ; ~ 19%
FIGURE 67.— Black-throated Green Warbler, : 5 3 ‘ : . 199
FIGURE 68.— Pine Warbler, . : : : > 4 : ° ON
FIGuRE 69.— Myrtle Warbler, : ‘ 5 : : c : 5 ~ 202
FicgurE 70.— Woolly Apple Tree Aphis, —. : siete . - ~ 202
FIGURE 71.—Red-eyed Vireo, : ; . ; 5 . A : - 204
FIcurE 72.— Warbling Vireo, : . : ; . ¢ : : . 206
FIGURE 75.— Yellow-throated Vireo, . : . : ; : f . 208
FiGuRE 74.— Cedar Bird, ‘ - : ‘ ‘ ; - : 5 . 209
FIGURE 75.— Passing the Cherry, . 3 ' é 3 i ‘ , . 210
FIGURE 76.— Good Work in the Orchard, . 5 : : : eel:
FicurE 77.— Scarlet Tanagers and Gipsy Moth Caterpillars, : . > 212
FIGURE 78.— Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Male, - 5 é < 5 + 216
FiGure 79.— Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Female, . : 5 5 é ae Lit
FiGcure 80.— Towhee, . : : : 3 - : : - 5 » 219
FriGcuRE 81.— Purple Finch, . . : . ¢ © - . : - 221
FiGuRE 82.— American Goldfinch, 5 : . 2 F é mee
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
FIGURE
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FIGURE
FIGURE
85.— Baltimore Oriole, . ; : : : = 5 .
84.— Pea Weevil, . ; : : ‘ A : a Fi
85. — Tent Caterpillars, Eggs, and Cocoon, . $ 5
86.— Click Beetle, . - A 4 is : 5 :
87.— Cucumber Beetle and Cureulios, . : ,
88.— Gipsy Moth, Male, . 4 ¢ : 3 5 9
89.— Cankerworm, . 5 . : 6 a : 5
90. — Wood Pewee, . ; : s : 5
91. — Tortricid Moth, ; c 5 - c : c a
92. — Tussock Moth, : , : : 5 : 5
93.—Phoebe, . - : : “ : 5 5 6 "
94.— Moth of Spring Cankerworm, . 3 ; . : 5
95. — Wood-boring Click Beetle, ‘ 5 4 2 5 ‘
96.— Brown-tail Moth, . A < 0 c 5 :
97.— Kingbird, : 5 3 : 3 A 5
98.— Cetonia Beetle, F . j : : 5 3 a
99.— May Beetle, . c 4 4 : 0 c . 0
100. — Hummingbirds about Two Weeks old, . 5 P
101. — Hummingbird feeding Young, ; 5 : ; 4
102. — Young Hummingbirds nearly fledged,
105.— Skull and Tongue of Woodpecker, P F
104. — Spearlike Tongue-tip of Downy Woodpecker,
105.— Pine Borer, . - : : c ;
106.— Pales Weevil, : : : : :
107. — Cocoon of Codling Moth pierced by Woodpecker, .
108. — Apple Tree Borer, . c 5 é c :
109. — Section of Young Tree saved by Downy Woodpecker, .
110.— Downy Woodpecker and his Work,
111. — Bark pierced by Downy Woodpecker,
112.— The Same, showing the Channels made by Bark Beetles,
113. — Pine Top killed by Pine Weevil,
114.— Tree ruined for Timber by Pine Weevil,
115. — Section of Red Maple tapped for Sap, . 4 :
116.— A Similar Section, : : 3 : .
117. — Hairy Woodpecker, é : : 5 ; : :
118.— Flicker, . ‘ ae he 5 : : F
119. — Black-billed Cuckoo, . 3 : -
120. — Caterpillar of the Io Moth, . : : 4
121.—Spiny Elm Caterpillar, . . ; 2 : , 4
122.— Fall Web Worm, . é 5 5 : 5
125. — Red-humped Caterpillar, : . : ;
124.— Tree Hoppers, ; : ; : :
125.— American Robin, . ; : 6 : c
126.— White Grub, . : : ‘ 4 : 4 ;
127. — Bluebird, 5 3 F - a : ‘ 5 F
XVI111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Ficure 128.— The Bluebird’s Bread, . fs , z : a : . 292
Figure 129.— Indigo Bunting, Male, . : ; - : : : . 298
Ficure 130.— Indigo ‘Bunting, Female, ; = : 2 - . 298
FiGure 131.—Song Sparrow, . : : 5 - : ° : Bt)
FicureE 132.—Slate-colored Junco, : ; é G 5 : : 7 OU
FIGuRE 133.— Field Sparrow, r s : : 5 - cC c - 302
Figure 134.— Chipping Sparrow, . 0 c 5 . 3 : . 303
Ficure 135.— Moth of the Tent Caterpillar, ; é : : c . 304
Figure 136.— Chipping Sparrows hunting Beet Worms, . 0 5 . 304
Ficure 137.— Tree Sparrow, 3 C : : : : : . 306
Figure 138.— White-throated Sparrow, 3 ; - : ° ¢ . 307
FicureE 139.— Vesper Sparrow, . : : ; : ; : : 5 alli
Ficure 140.— Crow Blackbird, . ; : : 5 é c 5 . 314
FicureE 141.— Meadowlark, . ‘ A 4 ; . 4 ; A a Bulz
Figure 142.— Red-winged Blackbird, Male, ; : : : : . 319
Figure 145.—Red-winged Blackbird, Female, . ‘ F ‘ : 5 BO)
Frcure 144. — Bobolink, Male, and Army Worm, : , i E - 322
Ficure 145.— Bobolink, Female, . F 5 : : : ; ; Poze
FrGgurRE 146.— Bob-white, . : . é Z , 0 A a HD)
Ficure 147.— The Morning Call, . . . . : . : : 5 Bey
Fricure 148.—Ring-mecked Pheasant, . : : 0 : ; : . 3d2
Fiaure 149.— Purple Martin, Male, . ° a : : : . «ont
Ficure 150.— Purple Martin, Female, : : . : ; A . 348
Ficure 151.—Salt-marsh Caterpillar, . 3 ; 5 c : é . 349
FIGURE 152.— Army Worm, . : . : . é c é . 349
Figure 153.— Swamp Sparrow, . ° c : : d 5 : , 3B)
Figure 154. — Italian Sportsman and his Decoy Owl, .« é c ¢ . 309
FIGURE 155.— Blue Jay, : : . ; . : 6 : : . 369
FrGcurRE 156.— Northern Shrike, . : : : ° c , é . 370
FiGuRE 157. —Seed Catkins of Gray Birch, . : ; : : . . 374
FriGure 158.— Fruit of Virginia Juniper or Red Cedar, 5 : : c Ble
FicgureE 159.— Downy Woodpecker feeding on Suet, . ; : : . 380
Ficure 160.— The Birds’ Christmas Tree, . : : : . 381
FIGuRE 161.— The Birds’ Tepee, . ; : : > ; 5 ats?)
FIGURE 162.— Design for a Sparrow-proof Shelf, : : : . 083
FiGurE 163.— Mr. Chapman’s Bird Bath, ©. : F ; 5 - . 386
FiGuRE 164.— Phoaebe’s Nest in Box, . : : ; ‘ 5 : . 388
FIGURE 165,—Sparrow-proof Box, ; ; 5 - c 5 5 - 339
FIGURE 166.— Birch-bark Nesting Box for Chickadees, Cc @. oul
FiGuRE 167.— Shingle Box for Bluebirds, - : : f 5 . 092
FIGURE 168. —Chickadees feeding Young in Observation Box, . é . 395
FiGurE 169.—A Martin Box, : A . : . 396
Ficure 170.— A Martin Barrel, . ‘ ; : ; c 5 - . 397
FIGuRE 171.
Zinc Bands to prevent Cats or Squirrels from climbing Trees
or Poles, . . : 3 , 2 3 . ; ; - . 410
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
SIN
Woop Duck (Colored Plate),
Priate I.—The American Silkworm Moth,
Frontispiece
faces page 31
Puate II.—The Destructiveness of the Gipsy Moth, between pages 38 and 39
PiaTE IIT.— Expensive Work of destroying the Eggs of the
Gipsy Moth in Woodland Parks, . : c . between pages 38 and 39
PLATE IV.—Red-eyed Vireo feeding Young,
PuaTE V.— Chickadee, with Insects in its Beak, . 0
PLATE VI.— Field or Meadow Mouse,
Puate VIL. — White-footed or Deer Mouse,
PuaTeE VIII.— A Useful Mouse-eating Owl,
PLATE IX.— Regurgitated Ow] Pellets,
PLATE X.— The Same Pellets, dissected, . : ,
PLatE XI.— Albatrosses on Laysan Island, H. I.,
PuAatE XIT.— The Cecropia Moth,
PLATE XIII.— Web of Tent Caterpillar, which had been
attacked by Birds,
PLATE XIV.— Various Stages of the Brown-tail Moth,
PLATE XV.— Various Stages of the Gipsy Moth,
PLATE XVI.—General View of Georgetown Woodland,
PLATE XVIJ.— Pines, Oaks, and Other Trees, stripped by the
Omnivorous Caterpillars of the Gipsy Moth,
PLuatTe XVITI.— Luna Moth,
PLATE XIX.— Least Flycatcher on Nest,
PLATE XX.— Downy Woodpecker at Nest Hole, .
PLATE XXI.—Rutfed Grouse on Nest,
PLATE XXII.— Ruffed Grouse, One Day old,
PLATE XXIIT.— Ruffed Grouse, Four Months old,
PLATE XXIV.— Ruffed Grouse, strutting,
PLATE XXV.— Robin’s Nest in Hollow Tree,
PLATE XX VI.— Robin on Nest, .
PLATE XXVII.— Wren at Nest Hole,
PLATE XXVIII.—Chipping Sparrows feeding their Young,
PLATE XXIX.— American Woodcock,
PLATE XXX.— Nighthawk,
PLATE XXXI.— Whip-poor-will,
PLATE XXXII.— A Swallow Roost,
PLATE XXXIII.— Nest Robbers,
PLATE XXXIV.— Work which drives out the Birds,
PLATE XXXV.—Cat with Young Robin,
PLATE XXXVI.— Barred Owl, . 0 : ;
PLratTE XXXVII.— Blue Jay’s Nest in Author’s Grove, .
PLateE XXXVIII.— Fruits that are valuable as Bird Food,
PLarE XXXIX.—A Bountiful Repast,
PLATE XL.— A Scratching Shed, : ; ; ; c 5
Pirate XLI.—Chickadee seen through Window, at Author’s
Home, . : ; : . 5
faces page 51
faces page 54
faces page 76
faces page 76
faces page 78
faces page 80
faces page 80
faces page 82
faces page 109
faces page 118
faces page 137
faces page 142
faces page 144
faces page 144
faces page 214
faces page 229
faces page 249
faces page 267
faces page 268
faces page 268
faces page 270
faces page 283
faces page 289
faces page 293
faces page 304
faces page 336
faces page 541
faces page 541
faces page 343
faces page 359
faces page 560
faces page 362
faces page 367
faces page 369
faces page 375
faces page 378
faces page 378
faces page 380
xX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Puate XLII. — Chickadees on Pork Rind, 3 é ; . faces page 380
PuatrE XLIIT.— Ernest Harold Baynes taming a Chickadee, . faces page 381
Pirate XLIV. — Chickadee feeding from the Hand, . : . faces page 381
PLATE XLV.—Chickadees seen on a Frosty Morning, through
Author’s Window, - ¢ c - : : - . faces page 382
PLATE XLVI.—A Red-breasted Nuthatch at the Window, > faces page 382
PLATE XLVII.— Bird Houses and Nesting Boxes, . : . faces page 391
PuaTE XLVIII.— Inexpensive Nesting Boxes, . : : . faces page 392
PLatE XLIX.—Chickadee about to enter its Nest, in an Old
Varnish Can, . 5 5 . : - : : . . faces page 392
PLATE L.— Owl Box, at Author’s Home, . : between pages 394 and 395
PLAtE LI.— Owl on Nest, . 5 F ‘ 3 between pages 394 and 395
PLATE LII.—Chickadee’s Nest, made of Cotton, in Box on
Author’s Window, 5 C : : : between pages 400 and 401
PuateE LIII.—Chickadee on Nest, . : : between pages 400 and 401
PLATE LIV.— Mother Chickadee bringing Food to Young,
between pages 400 and 401
PLATE LYV.— Mother Chickadee cleaning Nest, between pages 400 and 401
PLATE LVI.— Domesticated Canada Goose on Nest, : . faces page 417
USEFUL BIRDS AND THEIR PROTECTION.
INTRODUCTORY.
THE UTILITY OF BIRDS IN NATURE,
There is no subject in the field of natural science that is
of greater interest than the important position that the living
bird occupies in the great plan of organic nature.
The food relations of birds are so complicated and have
such a far-reaching effect upon other forms of life that the
mind of man may never be able fully to trace and grasp them.
The migrations of birds are so vast and widespread that the
movements of many species are still more or less shrouded
in mystery. We do not yet know, for instance, just where
certain common birds pass some of the winter months. Some
Species sweep in their annual flights from Arctic America
to the plains of Patagonia, coursing the entire length of the
habitable portion of a hemisphere. Many of the birds that
summer in northern or temperate America winter in or near
the tropics. Some species remain in the colder or temperate
regions only long enough to mate, nest, and rear their young,
and then start on their long journey toward the equator.
The annual earth-wide sweep of the tide of bird life from
zone to zone renders the study of the relations of birds to
other living forms throughout their range a task of the
utmost magnitude. This vast migration at once suggests
the question, Of what use in nature is this host of winged
creatures that with the changing seasons sweeps over land
and sea?
Our first concern in answering this question is to deter-
mine what particular office or function in the economy of
nature birds alone are fitted to perform. The relations
2 USEFUL BIRDS.
they may bear to the unnatural and semi-artificial conditions
produced by the agriculturist may then be better under-
stood. The position occupied by birds among the forces of
nature is unique in one respect at least; their structure fits
them to perform the office of a swiftly moving force of
police, large bodies of which can be assembled at once to
correct disturbances caused by abnormal outbreaks of plant
or animal life. This function is well performed. A swarm
of locusts appears, and birds of many species congregate to
feed upon locusts. An irruption of field mice, lemmings, or
gophers occurs, and birds of prey gather to the feast from
far and near.
This habit of birds is also serviceable in clearing the earth
of decaying materials, which otherwise might pollute both
air and water. A great slaughter of animals takes place,
and Eagles, Vultures, Crows, and other scavengers hasten to
tear the flesh from the carcasses. A dead sea monster is
cast upon the shore, and sea birds promptly assemble to
deyour its wasting tissues. The gathering of birds to feed
is commonly observed in the flocking of Crows in meadows
where grasshoppers or grubs abound, the assembling of
Crows and Blackbirds in cornfields, and in the massing of
shore birds on flats or marshes where the receding tide
exposes their food.
A study of the structure and habits of birds shows how
well fitted they are to check excessive multiplication of
injurious creatures or to remove offensive material. Birds
are distinguished from all other animals by their complex,
feathered wings, —the organs of perfect flight.
The tremendous muscular power exhibited by birds is only
such as might be expected in creatures provided with such
perfect respiratory, circulatory, and assimilative organs. The
strength of birds as compared with that of man is enormously
out of proportion to their size ; but it is largely concentrated
in the muscles that move the wings, for it is by flight that
the bird is enabled to live. No other animals have such
sustained power of flight or such perfect command over
themselves while in the air. Even the bat, which is a most
skillful flyer, being remarkably quick in aerial evolutions,
UTILITY OF BIRDS IN NATURE. 3)
cannot at its best equal the bird. I once saw a bat make
seven attempts to catch a moth fluttering along the still sur-
face of a moonlit river. A Swallow could have seized it at
once with no perceptible effort. No creature can equal the
soaring of the Eagle or Vulture, or that of the Man-o’-War
Bird as it sails on high above the storm; while the speed
that the Hummingbird attains is such that the eye can
scarcely follow its most rapid flight.
Birds are provided with wings to enable them (1) to pro-
cure food, (2) to escape their enemies, (3) to migrate.
All birds have wings, though a few, like the Apteryx, have
them only in arudimentary form. Others, like the Penguin
and the Ostrich, have small wings, but cannot raise them-
selves in the air.
All birds that cannot fly, however, are reminders of a past
age, and are not fitted to live on the same earth with man.
Such birds are either already extinct or in a fair way to
become so, either at the hands of man or at the teeth or
claws of the dogs, cats, or other animals that man introduces.
Flight alone might save the few that remain. The Great
Auk, using its wings only in pursuing its prey under water,
disappeared before the onslaught of the white man; while
the Loon, flying both under water and above it, still sur-
vives.
Birds are pursued by many enemies. Water-fowl fly to
the water and dive to escape the Hawk or Eagle, and fly to
the land to escape the shark, alligator, or pike. Sparrows
fly to the thicket to elude the Hawk, and to the trees to
avoid the cat. Evidently this great power of flight was given
to birds to enable them not only to concentrate their forces
rapidly at a given point, but also to pursue other flying
creatures. Birds can pursue bats, flying squirrels, flying
fish, and insects through the air. Bats and insects are their
only competitors in flight. Comparatively few insects can
escape birds by flight, and this they do mainly by quick
dodging and turning. The speed at which birds can fly on
occasion has seldom been accurately measured. The maxi-
mum flight velocity of certain wild-fowl is said to be ninety
miles an hour. Passenger Pigeons killed in the neighbor-
4 USEFUL BIRDS.
hood of New York have had in their crops rice probably
taken from the fields of the Carolinas or Georgia, which
indicates that within six hours they had flown the three or
four hundred miles intervening, at about the rate of a mile
a minute.?
The rate of flight of a species must be sufficiently rapid
to enable it to exist, and so perform its part in the economy
of nature.
Birds find distant food by the senses of sight and hearing
mainly. The sense of smell is not highly developed, but
the other perceptive powers are remarkable. The perfection
of sight in birds is almost incomprehensible to those who
have not studied the organs of vision. The keen eye of the
Hawk has become proverbial. The bird’s eye is much larger
in proportion to the size of its owner than are the eyes of
other vertebrates. It is provided with an organ called the
pecten, by which, so naturalists believe, the foeus can be
changed in an instant, so that the bird becomes nearsighted
or farsighted at need. Such provision for changing the focus
of the eye is indispensable to certain birds in their quick rush
upon their prey. Thus the Osprey or Fish Hawk, flying
over an arm of the sea, marks its quarry down in the dark
water. As the bird plunges swiftly through the air its eye
is kept constantly focussed upon the fish, and when within
striking distance it can still see clearly its panic-stricken
prey. Were a man to descend so suddenly from such a
height he would lose sight of the fish before he reached the
water. The Flycatcher, sitting erect upon its perch, watch-
ing passing insects that are often invisible to the human eye,
in like manner utilizes the pecten in the perception, pursuit,
and capture of its prey. Most of the smaller birds will see
a Hawk in the sky before it becomes visible to the human
eye. The Vulture, floating on wide wings in upper air,
discerns his chosen food in the valley far below, and as he
descends toward it he is seen by others wheeling in the dis-
tant sky. As they turn to follow him they also are seen by
others soaring at greater distances, who, following, are pur-
1 American Ornithology, Wilson and Bonaparte, Vol. IV, pp. 319, 520. Evi-
dently a quotation from Audubon’s Ornithological Biography.
UTILITY OF BIRDS IN NATURE. 5)
sued from afar by others still, until a feathered host con-
centers from the sky upon the carrion feast.
Birds are lower in the organic scale than the class of
mammals which includes man, the four-footed animals, and
even the seal and the whale. Birds are closely allied in
structure to reptiles. The earliest bird known, the Archie-
opteryx, had teeth,
two fingers on each
wing, and along rep-
tilian tail adorned
with feathers. Still,
notwithstanding the
comparatively low
place which is given
by the systematists
On tp des!s “tlhe. dr
physical organiza-
tion excels in some
respects that of all
otheranimals. They
surpass all other
vertebrate animals
in breathing power
or lung capacity, as
well as in muscular
streneth and actiy-
= ry
It) : Phe tempe ‘a= Fig, 1.—'The Archeopteryx, a bird with teeth. Re-
ture of the blood is stored from the Jurassic epoch. About one-fifth natural
: size; after Chapman.
higher in birds than
in other animals, and the cireulation is more rapid. To
maintain this high temperature, rapid circulation, and great
activity, a large amount of food is absolutely necessary.
Food is the fuel without which the brightly burning fires
of life must grow dim and die away. Birds are, therefore,
fitted for their function of aerial police not only by their
powers of flight and perception, but also by their enormous
capacity for assimilating food. When food is plentiful,
birds gorge themselves, accumulating fat in quantities.
Shore birds frequently become so fat during the fall migra-
ior)
USEFUL BIRDS.
tions that, when shot, their distended skins burst open
when their bodies strike the ground. This accumulation of
fatty tissue may aid to tide the birds over a season of
scarcity, but the moment they need food they must seek
it far and wide, if need be, as they cannot live long with-
out it. Birds are not always the ethereal, care-free creatures
of the poet’s dream. In time of plenty, the joys of flight,
of sunshine, of singing, of riding swinging boughs, or toss-
ing to and fro on flashing waves, are theirs to the full;
but in times of scarcity, or when rearing their helpless
young, their daily lives are often one continued strenuous
hunt for food. Food, therefore, is the mainspring of the
bird’s existence. Love and fear alone are at times stronger
than the food craving. The amount of food that birds are
capable of consuming renders them doubly useful in case of
an emergency.
The utility of birds in suppressing outbreaks of other an-
imals by massing at threatened points is of no greater value
in the plan of nature than is the perennial regulative influ-
ence exerted by them individually everywhere as a check on
the undue increase of other forms of life.
He who studies living birds, other animals, or plants, and
the relations which these living organisms bear to one
another, will soon learn that the main effort of each plant
or animal is to preserve its own life and produce seed or
young, and so multiply its kind. He will see, also, that the
similar efforts of other organisms by which it is surrounded
tend to hold its increase in check.
The oak produces many hundreds of acorns; and were
each acorn to develop into a tree, the earth eventually would
be full of oaks, for all other trees would be crowded out.
But many animals feed on the acorns or the young seedlings ;
other trees crowd out the young oaks; caterpillars feed on
the foliage; other insects feed on the wood and bark, de-
stroying many trees; so, on the average, each oak barely
succeeds in producing another to occupy its place.
Certain moths deposit hundreds of eggs in a season; and
were each ege@ to hatch and each insect to come to maturity
and go on producing young at the same rate, the entire earth
OLTLITY: OF BIRDS IN NATURE. 7
in a few years would be carpeted with crawling caterpillars,
and the moths in flight would cover the earth like a blanket
of fog. But under natural conditions the caterpillars that
hatch from the eggs of the moth are destroyed by birds,
mammals, insects, or other animals, by disease or the action
of the elements, so that in the end only one pair of moths
succeeds another. If every Robin should produce five young
each year, and each Robin should live fifteen years, in time
every square foot of land on this continent would be packed
with Robins; but the surplus Robins are killed and eaten
by various other birds or by mammals, each striving to
maintain itself; so that, eventually, the number of Robins
remains about the same,
Thus we see that, while birds, insects, other animals, and
plants are constantly striving to increase their numbers, the
creatures that feed upon them operate continually to check
this undue multiplication. The Hawk preys upon the smaller
birds and mammals. The smaller birds and mammals feed
on insects, grass, seeds, leaves, and other animal and vege-
table food, each virtually endeavoring to gain strength and
increase the numbers of its race at the expense of other
living organisms.
There is a competition among various dissimilar organisms,
also, in seeking certain kinds of food. Grazing mamuinals,
such as cattle, sheep, and deer, eat grass. Grass is eaten
also by birds, mice, and insects. If any one kind of these
creatures should be left without cheek, and become too
numerous, it might consume the food supply of all.
In the great strugele for existence, each perpetuating
form of life that we call a species is really an expansive
force, that can be restrained and kept in its proper place
only by the similar expansive forces (other species) by
which it is surrounded. It is as if the whole field of ani-
mal and vegetable life consisted of a series of springs, each
exerting a pressure in all directions, and each held in place
only by the similar expansion of the springs surrounding it.
This action and reaction of natural forces constitute what is
known as the balance of nature. Any serious disturbance
of this balance is always fraught with serious consequences.
8 USEFUL BIRDS.
All animals and plants are sustained and nourished by
air, water, and food. Food supplies the material for growth
and development. Its abundance increases the energy and
fertility of a species, —its ability to produce young abun-
dantly. The study of the food and food habits of birds and
other animals is of the utmost importance, for by this study
alone we are enabled to trace their life relations to each
other, to plants, and to man. Some progress has already
been made in this study. We know in a general way the
character of the food of some of the common birds of the
United States ; but we know so little as yet of the food of
the smaller mammals, the reptiles, batrachians, many insects
and other lower animals, that it is impossible to tell what
may be the ultimate effect of the destruction of any one of
these animals by birds.
On the other hand, no one can tell what grave and far-
reaching results might follow the extermination of a single
species of bird; for it is probable that the food preferences
of each species are so distinctive that no other could fill its
place.
Birds are guided by their natural tastes in selecting their
food, unless driven by necessity. Of the food which suits
their tastes, that which is most easily taken is usually first
selected. In the main, species of similar structure and
habits often choose similar food, but each species usually
differs from its allies in the selection of some certain favorite
insects. Were a species exterminated, however, its place
might be taken eventually by the combined action of many
species, for nature always operates to restore her disturbed
balances.
The complexity of the food relations existing between
birds and other organisms may be indicated hypothetically
by a brief illustration. The Eagles, larger Hawks, and Owls
feed to some extent on Crows, and probably the nocturnal,
tree-clinbing, nest-haunting raccoon also robs them of eggs
and young; otherwise, they seem to have very few natural
enemies to check their increase. Crows feed on so many
different forms of animal and vegetable life that they are
nearly always able to find suitable food; therefore they
are common and widely distributed.
UTILITY OF BIRDS IN NATURE. 4)
The general fitness of the Crow is admitted by all. Un-
doubtedly it has a useful work to perform in the world ; but
a careful study of its food habits shows so many apparently
harmful traits that it may well leave the investigator in some
doubt as to the Crow’s value in the general plan. Crows
rob the nests of Robins, eating very many eggs and young
birds: they therefore constitute a serious check on the in-
crease of this species. Robins feed largely on common black
beetles, called ground beetles (Carabide), which run about
on the ground, hiding under stones and other rubbish. As
these beetles are not quick to fly by day,
and are easily caught, they form a consid-
erable part of the food of many ground-
frequenting birds. But ground bectles
feed, to a greater or less extent, on other
insects. The question then arises, Is not
the Robin doing harm in killing ground
beetles, and does it not merit the destruc-
10 Pp ata el 7 r » \y ry
tion of its eggs and young by the Crow?
Fig. 2.— Ground
If the Robin’s habit of eating these beetles beetle.
is harmful, is not the Crow rendering a service by destroy-
ing a bird so apparently destructive as the Robin? Perhaps,
if there were too many Robins, they might eat too many
ground beetles, and thus become the indirect cause of the
destruction of much vegetation, by saving the lives of the
caterpillars and other harmful insects that the ground beetles,
had they been left to themselves, might have destroyed.!
Many ground beetles that are eaten by the Robin feed
much on vegetable matter.? This makes these beetles doubly
useful in one respect, for they can maintain their numbers
1 These questions can be answered only by one having a thorough knowledge
of the food of our ground beetles, —a knowledge which no living man yet pos-
sesses; but enough has been learned to throw some light on their food habits.
Insects that feed promiscuously on other insects are generally classed as bene-
ficial in so far as they take insect food, even though they may destroy some
so-called useful insects; for, as the so-called injurious insects far outnumber the
useful ones, it is considered safe to regard the habit of feeding on insects a bene-
ficial one.
* The ground beetles of the genus Calosoma and those of some closely allied
genera are believed to feed entirely on animal food, as their structure fits them
for that alone. They feed ravenously upon both beneficial and injurious insects,
and when too numerous they devour one another. These are not the beetles that
are generally eaten by the Robin, however, but rather by the Crow.
10 USEFUL BIRDS,
when insect food is not plentiful, and so be ready to check
any increase of insects which may occur. On the other
hand, if they become too numerous, they may create serious
disturbances by destroying grass, grain, or fruit. I have
witnessed attacks made by certain of these beetles on grain
and strawberries; and were they not held in check by
birds, it is probable that they would soon become serious
pests. Their destruction by Robins and other birds tends
to keep these beetles within those normal bounds where
they will do most good and least harm; while the check
kept by the Crow on the increase of the Robin may pre-
vent the latter from destroying too many ground beetles.
If certain low-feeding caterpillars became so numerous as to
be injurious, ground beetles and Robins would feed largely
on them. The caterpillars would then largely take the place
of the beetles in the Robin’s food. The beetles, therefore,
would increase in numbers, and the force of both bird and
beetle would be exerted to reduce the caterpillars to their
normal limit. This accomplished, the Robin would again
attack the ground beetles, and thus tend to reduce them
to normal numbers.
Let us now go back to the beginning of our chain of
destruction. The Eagles, Hawks, Owls, and raccoons may
indirectly allow an increase in the number of Robins by
preventing too great an increase of the Crow. But Hawks
and Owls also prey on the Robin, and, by dividing their
attention between Robin and Crow, assist in keeping both
birds to their normal numbers. Whenever Crows became
‘are, Robins as a consequence would become very numerous,
were it not that the Hawks also eat Robins. (Hawks and
Owls eat also some species of insects that are eaten by both
Robin and Crow.)
There are compensations in the apparently destructive
career of the Crow. An omnivorous bird, it seems inclined
to turn its attention to any food which is plentiful and readily
obtained. It is a great feeder on May beetles (miscalled
“June bugs”), the larve of which, known as white grubs,
burrowing in the ground, sometimes devastate grass lands
and also injure the roots of many plants, including trees.
OTTLTLY OF BIEDS IN NATURE. 11
The Crow is also a destroyer of cutworms. These are
the young or larve of such noctuid moths or “ millers ”
as are commonly seen fluttering from the grass by any one
who disturbs them by walking in the
fields. Robins also feed largely on
cutworms, as well as on the white Fig. 3.—Cutworm.
grub of the May beetle. When these insects are few in
number, a part of the usual food supply of both Robin
and Crow is cut off. This being the case, the hungry
Crows are likely to destroy more young
Robins and other young birds than
usual, in order to make up the supply
of animal food for themselves and their
ravenous nestlings. Ina few years this
Fig. 4.— Noctuid moth.
would decrease perceptibly the number
of Robins and other small birds, and would be likely in
turn to allow an increase of May beetles and cutworms.
As these insects became more plentiful, the Crows would
naturally turn again to them, paying less attention to the
young of Robins and other birds for the time, and allowing
them to increase once more, until their multiplication put
a check on the insects, when the Crows would of necessity
again raid the Robins.
>
The Blue Jay may be taken as another instance of this
means of preserving the balance of nature. Hawks and
Owls kill Blue Jays, Crows destroy their eggs and young ;
thus the Jays are kept in check. Jays are omnivorous
feeders. They eat the eges and young of other birds, par-
ticularly those of Warblers, Titmice, and Vireos, — birds
which are active caterpillar hunters. But Jays are also
extremely efficient caterpillar hunters. Thus the Jays
compensate in some measure for their destruction of cat-
erpillar-eating birds, by themselves destroying the cater-
pillars which they unconsciously have allowed to increase
in numbers by destroying these birds. Like the Crow,
they virtually kill the young of the smaller birds, and eat
them, that they (the Jays) may eventually have more in-
sect food for their own young. When this object has been
attained, the Jays may again, perhaps, allow an increase of
2 USEFUL -BIRDS.
the smaller birds, the survivors of which they have unwit-
tingly furnished with more insect food, thus making con-
ditions favorable for the increase of the smaller birds.
These oscillations or alternate expansions and contractions
in the numbers of birds or insects are usually so slight as
to escape common observation. It is only in those cases
where they are carried to extremes that they result disas-
trously. Under nature the checks on the increase of birds
are essential, else they would increase in numbers until
their food supply had become exhausted, when they would
starve, and other consequences even more grave and much
more complex would then follow. .
While these examples of the way in which the balance of
nature is preserved may be regarded as somewhat hypothet-
ical, they probably approximate what actually takes place,
although the feeding habits of birds undoubtedly produce
far more complicated results than are here outlined.
It is a law of nature that the destroyer is also the protector.
Birds of prey save the species on which they prey from
overproduction and consequent starvation. They also serve
such species in at least two other ways: (1) the more
powerful bird enemies of a certain bird usually prey upon
some of its weaker enemies ; (2) these powerful birds also
check the propagation of weakness, disease, or unfitness, by
killing off the weaker or most unfit individuals among the
species on which they prey, for these are most easily captured
and killed.
We have seen already that Jays, which are enemies of
the smaller birds, are preyed upon by the more powerful
Crows, Hawks, and Owls. These latter also destroy skunks,
weasels, squirrels, mice, and snakes, all of which are also
enemies of the smaller birds. No doubt these animals would
be much more injurious to the smaller birds were they with-
out these wholesome feathered checks on their increase.
In a state of nature, albino birds or those that are rendered
conspicuous to their enemies by any unusual mark or color
are soon captured by some bird of prey, and seldom live to
perpetuate their unfitness.
UTILITY OF BIRDS IN NATURE. 13
An experience with domestic Pigeons, related to me by
Mr. William Brewster, will serve as proof of this state-
ment. He had kept a flock of twenty-five or thirty Pigeons
in confinement at Cambridge for many years. Under such
protective domestication the individuals of the flock had
assumed a variety of shades and colors. There were blue
Doves, white Doves, and many pied individuals varying
between the two extremes. He removed the flock to his
farm in Concord, where they were at liberty to roam at will
during the day. Here they were attacked by Hawks, and
in five years’ time the white and pied birds were practically
all weeded out, and the flock consisted of blue rock Doves
alone.
The preservation of birds by the weeding out of sickly
or wounded individuals did not escape the notice of Prof.
Spencer F. Baird, who wrote : —
It has now been conclusively shown, I think, that Hawks perform an
important function in maintaining in good condition the stock of game
birds, by capturing the weak and sickly, and thus preventing reproduc-
tion from unhealthy parents. One of the most plausible hypotheses
explanatory of the occasional outbreaks of disease amongst the grouse
of Scotland has been the extermination of these correctives, the disease
being most virulent where the game keepers were most active in de-
stroying what they considered vermin.
It appears, then, that under natural conditions the birds of
prey destroy merely the unfit and surplus individuals of the
species on which they prey, and do not, on the whole, reduce
their numbers below what the land will support.
The relations of birds to insects merit the most profound
thought and study. No one can study intelligently the effect
produced by birds upon insect life unless he first acquires
some knowledge of the habits and transformations of insects,
and is able to distinguish the so-called injurious and benefi-
cial groups. > x back.
of safety and pupated. Every cat- °"
erpillar or pupa thus destroyed nourishes one or many of
these parasites, to emerge and attack surviving caterpillars.
The parasites themselves, however, are often attacked in the
same manner by a secondary parasite, which destroys them
precisely as they destroyed the caterpillar. The larger pri-
mary parasites may deposit a single egg or only a few in
each caterpillar, while the smaller ones may deposit the
entire brood in the body of a single caterpillar.
Birds eat both predaceous and parasitic insects. We have
seen that they eat ground beetles, many of which are pro-
vided with acrid secretions that are supposed to render them
disagreeable and offensive to the taste, and so
give them a certain immunity from their ene-
mies. Evidently, however, it takes a very
strong flavor to take the edge off a bird’s
appetite, for birds eat bugs; and any child
who has ever eaten berries from the bushes,
and inadvertently put one of the berry-eating
bugs in his mouth, knows how disgusting their
Fig.13.—Tizer flavor is. There are some useful insects that
beetle; a useful
form, eaten
by very few are beneath the notice of most birds. The
birds.
are seldom eaten by birds. The very smallest
tiger beetles and some of the useful flies
are so quick that birds find it difficult to catch them.
Wasps and bees, though eaten by some birds, can protect
themselves very well with their stings. Probably, however,
20 USEFUL BIRDS.
birds eat a great many caterpillars containing parasites,
though birds will reject any caterpillars that show signs of
weakness or disease. The question then arises, Is the bird
doing harm by eating caterpillars or other larve containing
parasites? The bird certainly ends the destructive career
of the larva at once. The parasites would have ended it
eventually ; but had it been left to them, it might have gone
on for some time in its destructive career, doing as much
injury as if not parasitized; the parasite merely destroys it
in time to prevent it from propagating its kind. So far the
evidence is in favor of the bird. The question remains,
however, whether the bird and its young would eventually
destroy more caterpillars than would the progeny of the
parasites had they not been eaten by the bird. This question
evidently is unanswerable. Birds act as the primary check
on the increase of destructive insects ; parasitic insects are
the secondary check provided by nature to operate in con-
junction with the birds, or to supplement the regulative
action of birds where the number of birds is insufficient to
check the increase of insects.
Birds sometimes kill many of the imagoes of parasitic
insects in flight, where such insects are numerous. At first
sight, this would seem to condemn the birds; on further
study, it seems probable that this is often a harmless habit.
Where parasitic insects are found in great numbers, it is
probable that the birds destroy mainly the surplus flies,
which otherwise, failing to find hosts for their young, would
merely live out their time and die without issue were they
not killed by the birds. Such harm as birds do in killing
primary parasites may be offset by the killing of secondary
parasites by birds, for this acts as a protection to the pri-
mary parasites.
Certain predaceous bugs feed not only on insects but also
on vegetable food. They also attack other predaceous or
useful insects. Birds, by preventing their undue increase,
may prevent excessive injury to both useful plants and
insects.
All reasoning from known premises leads to one conclusion
UTILITY OF BIRDS IN NATURE. 21
regarding the utility of birds in nature. It may be stated
confidently, as a general rule (not without exceptions, how-
ever), that, in the natural order of things, the species that
is kept within normal numbers without great fluctuations,
whether beast, bird, reptile, batrachian, or insect, will serve
a useful purpose; while the species that increases unduly
will devour too much animal or vegetable food, and, by dis-
turbing the balance of nature, become a pest. It is the
abnormal increase of the gipsy and brown-tail moths and
the “English” Sparrow in this Commonwealth that has
been responsible for the injury they have done. If birds
do well their part in holding in check native insects, small
manimals, reptiles, batrachians, and other forms of life on
which they feed, they have fulfilled their mission, even if
in doing this they destroy some individuals of some species
that are classed as useful.
This, then, is the chief mission of the birds in organic
nature: to fill their peculiar place in preserving the balance
of nature’s forces, —a place that cannot be filled by any
other class of animals.
In much of the foregoing it appears that the birds are
engaged in checking the increase of insects and other ani-
mals, exerting that check constantly when and where it is
most needed. The vegetable food of birds is perhaps of
less importance, but here also they exercise a restraining
influence by destroying seed as wellas in other ways. They
also exert a beneficial influence by planting seed.
Birds also play a great part in the distribution of plants,
the upbuilding and fertilizing of barren islands, and a minor
part in the distribution of insects. Wild-fowl and Herons
may sometimes carry small seeds for many miles embedded
in particles of mud which adhere to their feet. Where this
mud drops from their feet, the seeds may sprout and grow.
The fruit-eating birds are among the most valuable of tree
planters, distributing the seeds farand wide. Certain insects
Which cling to the feet or feathers of birds are sometimes
distributed in this way. The part taken by birds in forest
planting and fertilizing barren lands will be taken up far-
22 USEFUL BIRDS.
ther on, in connection with their relations to forestry and
agriculture.
Taken all in all, the relations of birds to the natural world
are beneficent. Evidently birds are an essential part of
nature's great plan. This being the case, they must be
serviceable to man also, for man, the animal, is a mere inte-
gral part of nature.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 23
CHAPTER I.
THE VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN.
Birds are classed as useful or injurious only as they affect
man or his property. In an uninhabited country birds can-
not be ranked as beneficial or harmful, good or bad, for there
is noagriculture. There the earth, untroubled by man, brings
forth vegetation, and animals after their kind. Nature’s laws,
working in harmony, need none of man’s assistance. The
condition of the earth before man appeared is typified in the
Biblical account of the garden of Eden.
PRIMITIVE MAN’S RELATIONS TO NATURE.
We have seen that under such natural conditions all birds
are essential to the general welfare, each filling well its
appointed place. But trouble and discord come to Eden.
Man appears, and becomes the dominant power on the earth.
He sets up artificial standards of his own, and bids nature
conform to them. He is constantly at war with nature. He
classes wild creatures as injurious, provided they either in-
jure his person, or cause him loss by destroying or harming
any of his property or any of the wild animals or plants
which he regards as useful. He considers all wild creatures
beneficial that contribute directly or indirectly’ to his own
welfare, or to the increase in value of his property.
He is often in error, even from his own standpoint, in
thus classifying animals, owing to an insufficient knowledge
of their food habits ; but the principle holds good, and stand-
ards change with the acquisition of knowledge.
Man in a savage state lived, like other animals, in harmony
with nature. At first he practised no agriculture and domes-
ticated no animals. He made war mainly upon his fellows
and the larger beasts of prey, killing them in self-defence
or for food. (It seems prebable that primitive man was
a cannibal.) Otherwise, he fed altogether upon the wild
24 USHFUL BIRDS.
products of forest, meadow, sea, lake, or river. The only
creatures that he then could regard as injurious were those
that attacked his own person or the persons of his family.
Any irruption of animals, such as vast herds of deer, bison,
or antelopes, hordes of monkeys or rats, flights of birds or
locusts, outbreaks of caterpillars or other creatures, was
about as likely to benefit as to injure him. For instance,
when locusts became so numerous as to destroy a part or all
of his vegetable food, he followed the example of other
creatures, and, by feeding for the time on the superabundant
locusts, exerted an influence toward restoring the balance
of nature. (There are still savage tribes in various parts
of the earth that eat monkeys, rats, locusts, grubs, or
caterpillars. )
In times of plenty primitive man feasted, as did other
animals ; and in times of want, like them, he starved. But
usually he was indifferent to any ordinary injury done to the
animal or vegetable life around him, as he owned no prop-
erty, and could readily move his camp from a region of
want to one of plenty.
CHANGED RELATIONS PRODUCED BY AGRICULTURE.
With the beginning of agricultural practice, however, all
this was changed. When man began to domesticate animals,
he faced immediately a host of enemies. Wild animals and
birds attacked his cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and hogs, or
devoured their young. Tormenting insects stampeded his
herds, or carried disease and death among them. His poul-
try were decimated by scores of rapacious animals. When
he began to plant seed and raise grain, both his growing
and his garnered crops were attacked by a host of ene-
mies; for now he had begun to disturb nature’s balance,
and nature asserted herself in the effort to resume her inter-
rupted sway. This was the beginning of a war with nature
which wili never cease so long as man inhabits the earth ;
for the agriculturist does not work altogether with nature,
but largely against her. Most of the animal and vegetable
forms that he produces are at variance with those produced
by nature, and must be continually fostered and protected
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 25
if they are to maintain their artificial characters and excel-
lences. Left to themselves, the various breeds of domesti-
cated Pigeons would all disappear, merging into the original
Dove from whence they sprang. All artificial varieties of
animals, plants, and fruits would, under nature, become, in
time, like the wild stock from which they originated. Hence
man must wage war continually against organic nature, in
order to maintain his artificial Standards against her inex-
orable laws.
The beginning of agriculture was the first step toward
civilization as well, for the hecessity of remaining near his
crops to guard them from their enemies compelled the prim-
itive farmer to erect a permanent habitation. This took his
attention from war and the chase, for much of his time was
now occupied in tilling the soil and caring for his crops and
annals.
The slow growth of primitive agriculture in the older
civilized countries gave time for a eradual adjustment of the
forces of nature to the new conditions established and main-
tained by man. The gradual or partial clearing away of the
forests occupied centuries. The planting of crops merely
kept pace with the natural increase of population, while
the destruction of wild animals and their replacement with
domesticated species were similarly gradual and progressive.
So, although in the older countries agriculture suffered much
from the pests to which its operations must always give rise,
it remained for the peopling of newer lands to develop the
greatest difficulties in the path of the farmer.
Agriculture produces an increased food supply. The
population increases correspondingly, and the overflow seeks
new fields. In these new lands, of which America is the
most prominent example, the conditions of civilization and
agriculture have replaced with marked rapidity those of
savagery and primeval nature.
MAN AT WAR WITH NATURE IN THE NEW WORLD.
All the greater changes that were effected gradually by
man in Europe, where, in the course of centuries, civiliza-
tion was slowly evolved from savagery, —all these stupen-
26 USEFUL BIRDS.
dous changes, — were wrought here in a few years by the
tide of immigration from the eastern world.
In many communities only a score of years elapsed be-
tween the subjugation of the unbroken wilderness and the
building of a farming town or growing city. In Massachu-
setts the settlers cut down the forest; killed off most of the
larger mammals and birds ; imported and bred horses, cattle,
and poultry ; cleared and planted much of the arable land ;
introduced many new plants; and rapidly changed the ap-
pearance of the country from that of a wilderness to that of
an agricultural colony. Thirty years after the landing of
the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, eastern Massachusetts was
well colonized; with several growing seaport towns; with
prosperous farms, fertile fields and green pastures; with
flocks and herds grazing on many a hill, where the wild
Indian and the red deer formerly roamed.
All these changes, taking place so rapidly, produced great
disturbances in the economy of nature. As the wolf, lynx,
puma, and bear were killed or driven away, the smaller
animals on which they had formerly preyed increased in
numbers and attacked the crops. Crows, Blackbirds, and
many insects, finding in the grain crops new sources of food
supply, swarmed upon them and multiplied exceedingly.
Birds and insects attacked the cultivated fruit. Thousands
of acres of cleared meadow land were producing crops of
erass. Given this increased food supply, locusts and other
grass-eating insects increased in numbers. The settlers,
meantime, were destroying the Heath Hen, Quail, Plover,
Blackbirds, Hawks, and Crows, the natural enemies of the
locusts. As time went on, many new plants were introduced
from Europe, and in some cases insect pests unwittingly
were brought with them. The two succeeding centuries
brought about a tremendous immigration from Europe. As
settlement extended into the western States, great fields of
wheat and other grains were established, covering the plains
in some instances as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of
thousands of acres were planted to orchards and vineyards ;
great areas near the cities were devoted to garden vegetables ;
north and south, corn, wheat, and cotton clothed the land.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 27
THE INCREASE OF INSECT PESTS.
Insects introduced from foreign lands found here a para-
dise, in which to multiply, in the great areas planted year
after year to the same crops. Having escaped their native
enemies, they had come to an abundance of food in a land
where many of the insect-eating birds and other insectiyo-
rous animals had been much reduced in number by the unwise
policy of the settlers. Hence the rate. of increase of im-_
ported insect pests in America has far exceeded that of the
same insects in their native lands.
Certain native American insects, finding their food plants
destroyed by the cutting down of the forests or the break-
ing up of the prairie, turned their attention to the crops
of the farmer, and became important pests.
Such are the cutworms (Noctuide) ; their
name is legion. Others, having been reached
in their desert or mountain homes by the
advance of civilization, left their natural food
for the more succulent plants raised by man,
and so spread over the country from farm Hien eine
to farm. Such are the chinch bug and the — bug, much en-
larged.
Colorado potato beetle, which, as civilization
advanced westward, met it and spread toward the east.
The enormous losses which have occurred in the United
States from the destruction of growing crops by insects must
seem incredible to those who do not realize how vast are the
numbers of insects, how stupendous their power of multi-
plication, how insatiable their voracity.
When we fully appreciate the consuming powers of insects,
they assume an economic importance greater than can be
accorded to the ravening beast of prey. Let us consider
briefly, then, the potency for evil that lies hidden in the tiny
but innumerable eggs of injurious insects, which require only
the warmth of the summer sun to release from confinement
their destructive energies.
28 USEFUL BIRDS.
THE NUMBER OF INSECTS.
The number of insect species is greater by far than that
of the species of all other living creatures combined. More
than three hundred thousand have been described. There
are many thousands of undescribed species in museums.
Dr. Lintner, the late distinguished State entomologist of
New York, considered it not improbable that there were a
million species of insects. The number of individual insects
is beyond human comprehension or computation.
Dr. Lintner says that he saw at a glance, in a small extent
of roadway near Albany, more individuals of a single species
of snow flea, as computed by him, than there are human
beings on the entire face of the earth. A small cherry tree
ten feet in height was found by Dr. Fitch to be infested with
an aphid or plant louse. He estimated (first counting the
number of these insects on a leaf, the number of leaves ona
branch and the number of branches on the tree) that there
were twelve million plant lice on the tree ; and this was only
one tree of a row similarly infested. To give the reader an
approximate idea of the number of insects on the tree, it
was stated that, were a man to count them singly and as
‘apidly as he could speak, it would require eleven months’
labor at ten hours a day to complete the enumeration.!
In the days of their abundance the Rocky Mountain locusts
in flight filled the air and hid the sun. From the high peaks
of the Sierra Nevada they were seen filling the valleys below
and the air above as far as a powerful field glass could bring
the insects within focus. The chinch bug in countless mil-
lions infests the grain fields over towns, counties, and States.
The army worm moves at times in solid masses, destroying
the crops in its path.
THE REPRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF INSECTS.
Insects are enormously productive, and, were the progeny
of one pair allowed to reproduce without check, they would
cover, in time, the entire habitable earth.
1 Our Insect Enemies, by J. A. Lintner. Sixteenth Annual Report, New
Jersey State Board of Agriculture, 1888-89, pp. 293, 294.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 29
The rapidity of propagation shown by some insects is per-
haps without a parallel in the animal world.
In order to give some idea of the powers of multiplication
of the Colorado potato beetle, the Canadian
Kntomologist states that all its transformations
are effected in fifty days; so that the result of
over sixty millions.! beetle.
Speaking of the great power of multiplication shown by
plant lice or aphids, Dr. Lintner says that Professor Riley,
in his studies of the hop vine aphis (Phorodon humuli),
has observed thirteen generations of the species in the
year. Now, if we assume the average number of young
produced by each female to be one hundred, and that every
individual attains maturity and produces its full complement
of young (which, however, never occurs in nature), the
number of the twelfth brood alone (not counting those of
all of the preceding broods of the same year) would be
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (ten sextillions) of indi-
viduals. Where, as in this instance, figures fail to convey
any adequate conception of numbers, let us take space and
the velocity of light as measures. Were this brood mar-
shalled in line with ten individuals to a linear inch touching
one another, the procession would extend to the sun (a space
which light traverses in eight minutes), and beyond it to the
nearest fixed star (traversed by light only in six years), and
still onward in space beyond the most distant star that the
strongest telescope may bring to our view, — to a point so
inconceivably remote that light could only reach us from it
in twenty-five hundred years.
The remotest approach to such unchecked multiplication
on the part of this insect might paralyze the hop-growing
industry in one season. While the aphids may represent
the extreme of fecundity, there are thousands of insect
species the unchecked increase of any one of which would
soon overrun a continent. Mr. A. HT. Kirkland has com-
1 Report of Townend Glover, entomologist, in Annual Report of the United
States Commissioner of Agriculture, 1871, p. 74.
Oo
S
USEFUL BIRDS.
puted that the unrestricted increase of the gipsy moth would
be so great that the progeny of one pair would be numerous
enough in eight years to devour all the foliage in the United
States.
THE VORACITY OF INSECTS.
Many insects are remarkably destructive because of the
enormous amount of food which they must consume to grow
rapidly to maturity. Many caterpillars daily eat twice their
weight of leaves; which is as if an ox were to devour, every
twenty-four hours, three-quarters of a ton of grass.!
This voracity and rapid growth may be shown by the
statement of a few facts. A certain flesh-feeding larva will
consume in twenty-four hours two hundred times its original
weight ; a parallel to which, in the human race, would be an
infant consuming, in the first day of its existence, fifteen
hundred pounds of food. There are vegetable feeders,
caterpillars, which during their progress to maturity, within
thirty days, increase in size ten thousand times. To equal
this remarkable growth, a man at his maturity would have
to weigh forty tons. In view of such statements, need we
wonder that the insect world is so destructive and so potent
a power for harm ??
Mr. Leopold Trouvelot, who introduced the gipsy moth
into this country, was occupied for some time in raising
silkworms in Medford, Mass. He made a special study of
the American silkworm (Telea polyphemus). Regarding its
food and growth he says :—
It is astonishing how rapidly the larva grows, and one who has had
no experience in the matter could hardly believe what an amount of
food is devoured by these little creatures. One experiment which |
made can give some idea of it. When the young worm hatches out, it
* A probable cause for this voracity in the case of herbivorous larve is that the
stomachs do not have the power of dissolving the vegetable matter received into
them, but merely of extracting from it a juice. This is proved both by their
excrement, which consists of coiled-up and hardened particles of leaf, which,
when put into water, expand like tea, and by the great proportion which the
excrement bears to the quantity of food consumed (Kirby and Spence’s Ento-
mology, p. 259).
* Our Insect Enemies, by J. A. Lintner. Sixteenth Annual Report, New
Jersey State Board of Agriculture, 1888-89, p. 295.
PLATE I.--The American Silkworm Moth (Telea polyphemus).
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. od
weighs one-twentieth of a grain: when ten days old, it weighs one- ae
a grain, or ten times the original weight; when tw enty days old,
weighs three grains, or sixty times the original weight; when thirty a.
old, it weighs thirty-one grains, or six hundred and twenty times the
original weight; when forty days old, it w eighs ninety grains, or He
een hundred times the original w eight; and when fifty-six days old,
weighs two hundred and seven grains, or forty-one hundred and aoe
times the original w eight.
When a worm is thirty days old, it will have consumed about nine ty
grains of food; but when fifty-six days old it is fully grown, and has
consumed not less than one hundred and twenty oak leaves, w eighing
three-fourths of a pound; besides this, it has drunk not less than one-
half an ounce of water. So the food taken by a single silkworm in
fifty-six days equals in weight eighty-six thousand times the prinitive
weight of the worm. Of this, about one-fourth of a pound becomes
excrementitious matter, two hundred and seven grains are assimilated,
and over five ounces have evaporated. What a destruction of leaves
this single species of insect could make, if only a one-hundredth part
of the eggs laid came to maturity! A few years would be sufficient for
the propagation of a number large enough to devour all the leaves of
our forests.!
When we consider the dangers arising from the immense
numbers, fecundity and voracity of insects, the fact that
insects new to cultivated crops are continually appearing
becomes a source of grave apprehension.
THE GREAT LOSS TO AMERICAN AGRICULTURE BY
INSECT RAVAGES.
Economie entomologists, who are constantly increasing
our knowledge regarding insect pests, discover every year
new species attacking important crops or trees. Dr. Lintner
made a list of the insects injuring apple trees in the United
States, which was published in the appendix to his first
report as entomologist of New York State. It contained
one hundred and seventy-six species, while large though
lesser numbers have been found on the plum, pear, peach,
and cherry.
The study of the insect enemies of the forest trees of the
United States has not yet progressed far enough to deter-
1 The American Silkworm, by L. Trouvelot. American Naturalist, Vol. JE
p. 85.
32 USEFUL BIRDS.
mine with approximate accuracy the numbers of insects that
infest our forest trees. The forest insects of some sections
of Europe have been studied longer, and the numbers of in-
sects found injuring the principal trees are surprising. Kal-
tenbach enumerates five hundred and thirty-seven species
of insects, from central Europe, injurious to the oak; to the
elm he ascribes one hundred and seven. The poplars feed
two hundred and sixty-four species; the willows harbor
three hundred and ninety-six ; the birches, two hundred and
seventy; the alder, one hundred and nineteen; the beech,
one hundred and fifty-four: the hazel, ninety-seven; and
the hornbeam, eighty-eight. Among the coniferous trees,
the pines, larch, spruce, and fir, collectively, are attacked
by two hundred and ninety-nine species of insects.!
Dr. Packard enumerated over four hundred species which
prey upon our oaks, and believed it not improbable that
ultimately the number of species found on the oaks of the
United States would be from six hundred to eight hundred
or even one thousand.”
The list of insects which feed on grasses, cereals, field and
garden crops is very large and constantly growing, for it is
continually receiving accessions from both native and foreign
sources. The destructiveness of some of these insects is so
enormous and widespread that the financial loss resulting
therefrom amounts to a heavy annual tax on the people of
the United States. Hence since the first settlement of the
country the amount of this annual tax has been increasing.
In 1854 the loss in New York State alone from the ravages
of the insignificant wheat midge (Dzplosis tritict), as esti-
mated by the secretary of the New York State Agricultural
Society, was fifteen million dollars. Whole fields of wheat
were left ungarnered. So destructive was this insect in the
following years as to stop the raising of white wheat, and
reduce the value of all wheat lands forty per cent.®
1 Die Pflanzenfeinde aus der Klasse der Insekten.
* Insects Injurious to Forest and Shade Trees, by A. S. Packard. Fifth Report
of the United States Entomological Commission, 1886-90, p. 48.
3 Report on the Rocky Mountain Locust, by A. S. Packard. Ninth Annual
Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territo-
ries, 1875, p. 709.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 33
In 1856, in Livingston County, New York, two thousand
acres on flats which would have yielded thirty bushels of
wheat per acre were not harvested because of the destruc-
tive work of this insect.!
Dr. C. L. Marlatt, of the Bureau of Entomology of the
United States Department of Agriculture, who has made
careful calculations of the loss. still
oceasioned by the Hessian fly ( Cec/do-
myia destructor) in the wheat-growing
States, says that in comparatively few
years does it cause a loss of less than
ten per cent. of the crop. On the val-
uation of the crop of 1904 this would
amount to over fifty million dollars.
Dr. Marlatt states that in the year 1900 | |
the loss in the wheat-growing States HiGeigtHessiantiy:
from this tiny midge undoubtedly ap- About twelve times nat.
ural size.
proached one hundred million dollars.?
The chinch bug (Llissus leucopterus) attacks many staple
crops, and has been a seriously destructive pest in the
Mississippi valley States for many years, where it injures
chiefly wheat and corn. Dr. Shimer in his notes on this
insect estimates the loss caused by it in the Mississippi
valley in 1864 at one hundred million dollars,? while Dr.
Riley gives the loss in that year as seventy-three million
dollars in Illinois alone.t These are only a few of the
extreme losses. Year after year the injuries from the
depredations of this bug have amounted to many millions
of dollars.
The cotton worm (Alabama argillacea) has been known
as a serious pest to the cotton crop for more than a century.
The average loss in the cotton States from this caterpillar
? First Annual Report on the Injurious and Other Insects of the State of New
York, by J. A. Lintner, 1882, p. 6.
* The Annual Loss occasioned by Destructive Insects in the United States, by
C. LL. Marlatt. Yearbook, United States Department of Agriculture, 1904, p. 467.
® Report on the Rocky Mountain Locust, by A. S. Packard. Ninth Annual
Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories,
1875, p. 697.
* First Annual Report on the Injurious and Other Insects of the State of New
York, by J. A. Lintner, 1882, p. 7.
3d4 USEFUL BIRDS.
for fourteen years following the civil war was estimated at
fifteen million dollars per year.!
In 1878 the injury to the cotton crop reached twenty-five
million dollars, and later averaged from twenty-five million
to fifty million dollars annually. Now a new enemy, the
Mexican cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis), threatens
equal destruction.
The Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) began
to destroy crops as soon as the country it inhabits was set-
tled, and is still injurious. From time to time its enormous
flights have traversed a great part of the Mississippi valley.
It reached a maximum of destructiveness from 1874 to 1877,
when the total loss from its ravages in Kansas, Nebraska,
Towa, Missouri, and neighboring States, including injury by
depression of business and general ruin, was estimated at
two hundred million dollars.?
In those years this devastating insect swept over the Missis-
sippi valley. Wherever its vast flights alighted or its young
developed, they destroyed nearly all vegetation, ruining
great numbers of farmers, causing a famine in the land, and
driving many people to emigration. This was an extreme
calamity, such as is not likely to occur again.
A still larger but more widely distributed loss from insect
pests, however, is still borne annually by the American
people. Dr. Lintner states his belief that the annual and
periodical injury caused by cutworms in the United States
is greater than that caused by the Rocky Mountain locust.
In September, 1868, Prof. D. B. Walsh, editor of the
American Entomologist, estimated that the country then
suffered to the amount of three hundred million dollars
annually from the depredations of noxious insects. By the
census of 1875 the agricultural products of this country were
valued at two billion, five hundred million dollars. Of this
1 Fourth Report of the United States Entomological Commission, by C. V.
Riley, 1885, p. 5.
* Report on the Rocky Mountain Locust, by A. S. Packard. Ninth Annual
Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Terri-
tories, 1875, p. 591.
8 Report on the Rocky Mountain Locust, by Riley, Packard, and Thomas.
First Report of the United States Entomological Commission, 1877, pp. 115-122.
VALUH.OF BIRDS TO MAN. Be:
amount, Dr. Packard says that in all probability we annuall y
lose over two hundred million dollars from the attacks of
injurious insects. In the report of the Department of Agri-
culture for 1884 (p. 324) the losses occasioned by insects
injurious to agriculture in the United States, it is said, are
variously estimated at from three hundred million to four
hundred million dollars annually.
Prof. C. V. Riley, in response to a letter of inquiry, in
1890, stated that no very recent estimate of the injury done
by insects had been made; but that he had estimated, some
time previously, that the injury done to crops in the United
States by insects exceeded three hundred million dollars
annually.
Mr. James Fletcher, in his annual address as president of
the Society of Economie Entomologists, in Washington, in
1891, stated that the agricultural products of the United
States were then estimated at about three billion, eight hun-
dred million dollars. It was believed that a sum equal to
about one-tenth of this amount, or three hundred and eighty
million dollars, was lost annually through the ravages of
injurious insects.
It is evident that, in spite of the improved methods of
fighting insects, the aggregate loss from this source increases
in proportion as the land under cultivation increases.
The most recent estimate of the loss occasioned by insect
injury in the United States which has come to my notice is
that of Dr. C. L. Marlatt, who by careful estimates approxi-
mates the percentage of loss to cereal products, hay, cotton,
tobacco, truck crops, sugars, fruits, forests, miscellaneous
crops, animal products, and products in storage.
Dr. Marlatt attributes an annual loss of eighty million
dollars to the corn crop alone, and approximates the loss to
the wheat crop at one hundred million dollars each year.
The injury to the hay crop is estimated at five hundred and
thirty thousand dollars, while the codling moth alone is be-
lieved to injure fruit crops to the amount of twenty million
dollars annually.
This statement, based on the value of farm products as
given in the reports of the Bureau of Statistics of the United
36 USHFUL BIRDS.
States Department of Agriculture for 1904, gives the loss
from insect depredations for that year as seven hundred and
ninety-five million, one hundred thousand dollars; and this
is believed to be a conservative estimate of the tax now im-
posed by injurious insects on the people of the United States,
without reckoning the millions of dollars that are expended
annually in labor and insecticides in the fight against insects."
LOSSES BY INSECT RAVAGES IN MASSACHUSETTS.
The proportion of this loss that Massachusetts is called
upon to bear has not received the attention that it deserves.
Some figures, however, may be given. In 1861 the army
worm (probably //eliophila unipuncta) swept eastern Mas-
sachusetts. The damage done to crops, according to Dr.
Packard, exceeded five hundred thousand dollars.2,_ We have
no estimates of the loss occasioned by more recent invasions
of this insect. Prof. C. H. Fernald? estimates that an amount
of cranberries equal to one-third the possible crop of the Cape
Cod region is annually destroyed by insects. Thus a sum
not less than five hundred thousand dollars is yearly lost to
the people of that region.
In 1890 Dr. Henry H. Goodell, president of the Massa-
chusetts Agricultural College, stated that it was costing the
farmers of the United States two million dollars, and the
farmers of Massachusetts eighty thousand dollars, each year,
to hold the Colorado potato beetle in check by the use of
Paris green.*
In 1901 Hon. J. W. Stockwell, then secretary of the
Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, asked me to esti-
mate the annual loss to the Commonwealth through the ray-
ages of insect pests. My estimate, which seemed to me at
1 The Annual Loss occasioned by Destructive Insects in the United States, by
C. L. Marlatt. Yearbook, United States Department of Agriculture, 1904, p. 464.
2 First Report on Injurious and Beneficial Insects of Massachusetts, by A. S.
Packard. Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1870,
Part I, p. 353.
3 In Bulletin No. 19 of the Hatch Experiment Station of the Massachusetts
Avricultural College, Professor Fernald gives statistics of the cranberry crop,
and evidence from which his estimate is made.
4 Agricultural Education, by H. H. Goodell. Sixth Annual Report of the
Rhode Island State Board of Agriculture, 1891, p. 186.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 37
the time a most safe and conservative one, was three million,
one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Stockwell also asked
Dr. H. T. Fernald and Mr. A. H. Kirkland, both expert
economic entomologists, to make, independently, a similar
estimate. Their replies follow, showing how they made up
their figures. These gentlemen had every facility for obtain-
ing knowledge of insect injury in the Commonwealth. It
will be seen that their approximations considerably exceeded
my own. Dr. H. T. Fernald says: 1 —
Years ago a number of experts, figuring independently, came to the
conclusion that for farm, market-garden and orchard crops the loss by
the attacks of insects in an average year would represent one-tenth of
the value of the crop, or about two million, six hundred thousand dollars
for Massachusetts. Recently, however, prominent entomologists have
expressed the opinion that this per cent. is toolow. Three factors have
caused this change: first, the concentration of crops of the same kind
into large contiguous acreage ; second, the introduction of over one
hundred pests from foreign countries, which have been here long enough
to make their presence seriously felt; and third, the great reduction in
the number of insectivorous birds.
I believe it will be entirely safe to take fifteen per cent. of the crop
valuation of Massachusetts, and that you will be sufficiently conserya-
tive in using that amount as representing part of the damage. I have
never seen a cherry tree killed by plant lice, yet I have often seen lice
so abundant on cherry trees as to much reduce the crop, which is true
of a large proportion of our crops; and it is loss of this kind which is
covered by the fifteen per cent. estimate, . . . but how are we to place
a money value on the defoliation of an elm tree unless it be repeated
year after year until the tree dies? I would be inclined to add, to the
fifteen per cent. estimate already given, two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for labor, apparatus, poison, ete., used in the fight against
insects, and another two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to cover
damage actually done, but which cannot be reduced to figures, making
a total yearly damage of four million, four hundred thousand dollars for
Massachusetts.
Mr. Kirkland says : 1 —
The best figures available for estimating the loss caused by pests in
this State are those of the 1895 census. From the report of this census
I have taken figures giving the value of certain crops notably attacked
' Report of Secretary J. W. Stockwell, Annual Report of the Massachusetts
State Board of Agriculture, 1901, pp. xiii, xiv.
38 USEFUL BIRDS.
by insects, and have estimated in each case the probable average yearly
reduction in value caused by these pests. The data used are given be-
low. I have tried to make a conservative estimate in the case of each
product, since, to have any value, such an estimate should fall below
rather than above the actual amount. Even then the figures afford
material for serious reflection on the part of agriculturists.
Percentage
EEO DCH of ore damaged epee
by Insects. he
Greenhouse products, . Paes $1,749,070 10 $174,907 00
Hothouse and hotbed produc ts, a the 97,227 5 4,861 3
INUMSenyepLOCUCES, = sc- si lme cn tons 182,906 15 27,4385 90
ANAC OrEL DOIN, 5 ee 2,780,314 20 556,062 80
Cereal products, x . 5 : 1,104,578 5) 55,228 90
Fruits, berries, and nuts, ‘ ‘ 3 2,850,585 25 712,646 25
Hay and fodder crops, . ; : 5 12,491,090 10 1,249,109 00
WCECTRI ONES, 5 ue “Ge SG td, 1S = ol og 6,389,533 20 1,277,906 60
Tobacco, oe Pie ieee oo 1 Rae tag Gaal 544,968 10 54,496 80
Property : —
Fruit trees, vines, etc., . : : C 7,924,878 10 792,487 80
Totals, Eee ARSE cel saa ot hes $36,115,149 - $4,905,142 40
Assuming the accuracy of these data, and exclusive of the damage
wrought by insects to our woodlands, street trees, parks, etc., we have
in round figures five million dollars as the average annual damage from
insects to agricultural products and property in this Commonwealth.
While the cost of insect injury is enormous, the expense
of fighting injurious insects in the attempt to protect crops
and trees from their ravages is proportionately great. In
recent years Massachusetts has had, and is still having, a
costly experience in attempting to control or suppress an
imported insect.
The gipsy moth (Porthetria dispar), a well-known pest
of European countries, was introduced into Medford, Mass.,
by Mr. Leopold Trouvelot, in 1868 or 1869. Twenty years
later the moths had increased in numbers to such an extent
that they were destroying the trees and shrubbery in that
section of Medford where they were first liberated.
They swarmed over the houses of the inhabitants, invaded
their gardens, and became such a public nuisance that in
1890 the Legislature appropriated fifty thousand dollars for
their extermination. It was learned within the next two years
that the moths had spread over thirty towns. The State
Menotomy Rocks Park, Arlington, devastated by
(After Kirkland.)
PLATE II.— The Destructiveness of the Gipsy Moth.
F
caterpillars, June, 190
CS6ST ‘OANIMOLLEG VW JO palvog 0}BIg s}osnToRssepT oy} JO yodor
Tenuue ot} WO) *syeq puelpoom ut yo Asdin ayy jo s83q 2y41 Suréomsep jo yIo~Q aatsusdxy —"y]] ALVW Id
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. a9
Board of Agriculture was given charge of the work in 1891,
and over one million dollars were expended within the next
ten years in the attempt to exterminate the insect. As at
the expiration of that time all the larger moth colonies had
been destroyed, the Legislature, deeming further expendi-
ture unwise, gave up the work, despite the protest of the
Board of Agriculture, and its prediction that a speedy rise
of the moth would follow the cessation of concerted effort
gainst it. This prediction has been abundantly fulfilled,
and the policy of the Board has been fully justified.
Dr. Marlatt, who in 1904 visited the region infested by the
a
moth, reported to the Bureau of Entomology at Washington
that the people of the infested district were then fighting the
insect at a greater annual cost than that formerly assumed
by the State. Since the State gave up the work, a single
citizen, Gen. Samuel C. Lawrence of Medford, has expended
over seventy-five thousand dollars to protect the trees and
plants on his estate.
Finally, in 1905 the Legislature was obliged to renew the
fight, and appropriate the sum of three hundred thousand
>
dollars for work against both this insect and another im-
ported pest, —the brown-tail moth ( Luproctis chrysorrhea) ,
which had been introduced into Somerville some time in the
latter part of the nineteenth century.
The State has also been obliged to call on municipalities
and individuals to assist in the work of suppressing these
moths, at an annual expense to those concerned which ex-
ceeds all previous yearly expenditures for this purpose.
These insects have gained a much larger territory than
ever before, and thousands of acres of woodland have been
attacked by them during the present year (1905), and many
pine and other trees have been killed.
The gipsy moth has been found in Rhode Island, Connect-
icut, and New Hampshire, and the brown-tail moth is also
spreading into other States.
The prospect now seems to be that our protective expenses
against these two insects, as well as the injury done by them,
will increase constantly ; and that other States also will be
put to similar expense, with no prospect of permanent relief
40 USEFUL BIRDS.
save by such checks as may come, in time, through natural
causes.
In view of the dangers threatened by insect increase and
voracity, how fortunate it is for the human race that so many
counter-checks are provided against the multiplication of
these destructive creatures. If we could increase by so much
as one per cent. the efficiency of the natural enemies of
insects, a large proportion of the loss occasioned by insect
injury might be saved. Hence the importance of the study
of these natural enemies, among which birds hold a high
place.
THE CAPACITY OF BIRDS FOR DESTROYING PESTS. -
When we realize the losses that insects are capable of in-
flicting, we see at once that birds, in their capacity of insect
destroyers, continually operate to prevent the destruction of
some of our most important industries. If birds are present
in sufficient numbers, they will prevent the excessive increase
of any kind of a pest which they will eat.
The number of birds required to accomplish this highly
desirable end need not be very large in comparison with the
number of insects; for each bird can devour an incredible
number of insects, and the young birds in the nests require
more of this food, in proportion to their size, than do their
parents.
The Digestion of Birds.
The digestive organs of birds are so constructed and
equipped that they can both contain and dispose of a very
large quantity of food. The stomachs of many _ species
quickly separate the indigestible portions of the food from
the digestible parts, and the former are thrown out of the
mouth, thus relieving the stomach of much worthless mate-
rial, and enabling the bird immediately to consume more
food. The alimentary canal (including the crop, gullet or
cesophagus, the first division of the stomach or proventricu-
lus, the gizzard, gigerium or second division of the stomach,
the intestine and the cloaca) consists of a tube reaching from
mouth to anus, conveying the food. The nutritious qualities
of the food are drawn off by the lacteals as it passes; the
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 4]
refuse is voided. This is digestion. The food is often manip-
ulated, crushed, or divided by the beak. It then receives
saliva from the mouth, and passes through the pharynx into
either the gullet (a muscular and membr: nous tube) or crop
(a pouch), as the case may be, organs capable
of great distention, and connecting with the
first division of the stomach. Here, then,
is the first receptacle of the food. Birds
of prey, Herons and some other large birds
sometimes fill the gullet to the very mouth,
while awaiting the digestion of the food in
a stomach already full. The Pelicans have
also another great receptacle or pouch, ex-
ternal and beneath the beak, where a store
of food ean be carried. Many of the smaller
birds also are able, after filling the stomach,
to stow away a still larger supply of food
in the gullet. The stomach is large, and
usually capable, by distention, of contain-
ing a considerable quantity of food. The
food passes from the eullet or the crop tO wie, 17,—Alimen.
the proventriculus or elandular portion of — tary canal of Blue.
; bird, reduced; after
the stomach. This is where the process — Audubon. a,b, gul-
a . . . >t or ces hagus; ¢,
of digestion begins. Mixed with Salivary, =e. coe opaaen
proventriculus; d,
ingluvial, and proventricular se« retions, the gizzard; ¢, f, h, in-
food next passes to the gizzard or muscular “""® * “le
division of the stomach, where the food grist is ground fine.
Among seed-eating birds the heay Y, powerful muscles of
this portion of the stomach are, with the rough, calloused
stomach lining, assisted in their work by sand and gravel
which are swallowed. This mineral matter takes the place
of teeth in grinding the food.
In vegetable-feeding birds the intestine is very long and
much coiled, while the digestive tract is gene rally shorter
and simpler in the flesh- eating and fish-eating species. All
the processes of digestion are remarkably rapid. The sali-
vary glands, the liver and the pancreas all quickly pour their
copious secretions into the alimentary canal; the food is
chylified after impregnation with the biliary and pancreatic
42 USEFUL BIRDS.
fluids; the chyle is drawn off by the lacteals, and the residue
is excreted. The vigor, perfection, and rapidity of these
processes in insect-eating birds are such as might be expected
among animals of such high temperature, perfect respiration,
and rapid circulation.
The various dilations of the digestive tract serve well their
purpose of enabling the bird to consume the large amount
of food necessary for its maintenance. Digestion is partic-
ularly rapid in the growing young of most birds, for they
require not only food sufficient to sustain life, but an extra
supply as well to enable them to increase daily in size, and
to grow, in a few days, those wonderful appendages that we
‘all feathers.
The Growth of Young Birds.
The growth of many birds from the egg to the hour of
flight requires less time than is needed by some insects to
reach the flight stage. It is most significant that young birds
can develop as rapidly as can many in-
sects on which they feed, for it shows how
readily, under favorable conditions, the
increase of birds might keep proportion-
ate pace with that of insects. Weed and
= Dearborn, in their interesting manual, en-
ic.18.—Y o Cedar . ee De : ° - ° : : 56
Fig. 18.—YoungCedar titled “Birds in their Relations to Man,
Bird on its first day, Z
niked, blind,andhelp- state that they watched four young Song
less, with mouth open ; ; % Bs
for food. Reducea. Sparrows that were out of the nest on the
EMGR IEEE Ss eighth day. Mr. Owen records another
instance where a brood of young Song Sparrows were
fledged and left the nest within the same period.’ Probably
this is exceptional; but many of the smaller birds rear their
young from the egg to the first flight within two or three
weeks. Mr. Owen found that on one particular day this
family of five young Song Sparrows increased in average
weight forty-eight per cent., while the smallest bird gained
fifty-five per cent. in a single day.
The young of perching birds (Insessores) come into the
world tiny creatures, either naked or covered with down,
' A Family of Nestlings, by D. E. Owen. The Auk, Vol. XVI, No. 3, July,
1899, pp. 221-225.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 45
blind, and helpless; yet in a few days, or at most a few
weeks, they have grown to nearly the size of their parents,
and produced a_ perfect
suit of feathers, including
the strong quills of wings
and tail. In a few weeks
more they are able to
begin a journey of hun-
dreds or thousands of
miles over land and _ sea,
in their first migration.
The young of precocial
birds, such as Grouse,
Snipe and Plover, are
able to run about soon
after they are hatched.
Young Grouse learn to fly Fig. 19.— Young Cedar Birds, less than three
when quite small, but they
weeks old.
develop more slowly than do the young of the smaller
altricial birds. It is difficult, therefore, to determine the
amount of food they
require, as they leave
the nest at once and
wander from place to
place, picking up
their own food.
The young of the
altricial perching
birds, however, re-
main quite helpless in
the nest until nearly
fledged, affording an
Fig. 20.— Young Grouse, just from the egg, but able excellent opportunity
vo walle: for the investigator
to determine the amount and character of their food, and
to watch the progress of their development. We can learn
how much food such young birds require by feeding them
in confinement. |
44 USEFUL BIRDS.
The Amount of Food required by Young Birds.
It seems necessary to the health and comfort of the nest-
ling bird that its stomach be filled with food during most
of the day. Nearly half a century ago Prof. D. Treadwell
called attention to the great
food requirements of the
young Robin. Two young
birds from the nest were
selected for his experiment.
One soon died of starvation,
as the supply of food given
them at first was much too
small. The food of the re-
maining bird was gradually
Fig. 21.— A young Woodcock, ready to jnereased from day to day,
leave the nest. = Z
until on the seventh day it
was given thirty-one angleworms; but there was no increase
in its weight until, on the fourteenth day, it received sixty-
eight worms, weighing, all told, thirty-four pennyweights.!
Later the same bird ate
nearly one-half its own
weight of beef in a day.
A young man eating at
this rate would consume
about seventy pounds of
beefsteak daily. The
Robin even when full
grown required one-third
of its weight of beef
Fig. 22.— Young Robins, in the nest.
daily.
Mr. Charles W. Nash fed a young Robin from fifty to
seventy cutworms and earthworms a day for fifteen days.
While experimenting to see how many cutworms the bird
would eat in a day, he fed it five and one-half ounces of this
food, or one hundred and sixty-five cutworms. As the
Robin weighed but three ounces in the morning, it must
1 The Food of Young Robins, by D. Treadwell. Proceedings of the Boston
Society of Natural History, Vol. VI, pp. 396-599.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 45
have eaten, during the day, a quantity one and five-sixths
times its own weight.!
Three young Robins, about ten days old, fed by their
parents, were watched by Weed and Dearborn. By an in-
genious method of weighing and calculating, the observers
arrived at the conclusion that apparently there was eaten a
daily amount equal to more than half the birds’ own weight.2
Mr. Daniel KE. Owen kept a young Hermit Thrush, which
ate regularly half its weight of raw steak daily, and would,
he says, probably have eaten as much more had it been fed
oftener.°
In 1895 two young Crows were kept and fed by Messrs.
A. H. Kirkland and H. A. Ballou, then my assistants, from
August 7 to September 2, when one bird was killed by
accident. The survivor was kept until September 14, when
it was killed to determine some points regarding digestion.
These birds were confined in a large cage or enclosure in an
insectary, and were also allowed access during the day to
an enclosed yard, which they reached through the window.
This gave them considerable exercise.
A careful record was kept of most of their food. Never-
theless, they occasionally picked up some sprouted grain in
the yard, and probably a few insects that could not be re-
corded or weighed. For this reason the quantity of the daily
food supply recorded is probably, on the average, too low,
or, in other words, on the safe side. Some of the smaller
animals fed to the birds (toads, frogs, and salamanders) were
not always weighed, but they were measured and could be
compared with others of known weight, so that the weight
was approximated closely.
The birds were well grown when they were first received ;
but the amount of food at first given them probably was not
sufficient for their needs, as their weight did not increase,
although they were fed a variety of both vegetal and animal
1 Birds of Ontario in their Relation to Agriculture, by Charles W. Nash.
Toronto, Department of Agriculture, 1898, p. 22.
* Birds in their Relations to Man, by Clarence M. Weed and Ned Dearborn,
1903, p. 65.
* Notes on a Captive Hermit Thrush, by Daniel E. Owen. The Auk, Vol.
XIV, No. 1, January, 1897, pp. 1-8.
46 USHFUL BIRDS.
food. They were designated by number. On August 20
No. 1 weighed seventeen ounces and No. 2 fourteen ounces.
That day the two birds had two ounces of tomato, five ounces
of sweet corn, fifty grasshoppers (about three-fourths of an
ounce), —in all, nearly eight ounces, —and they also had free
access to some grain in the yard. As their weight remained
the same, they were fed the next day one-half ounce of
tomato, one ounce of corn, one ounce of muskmelon, five
ounces of meat, one ounce of beets, and fifty grasshoppers,
—in all, fully nine ounces. An apple also was eaten to
some extent, and there was still some grain in the yard.
Nevertheless, each bird lost about an ounce in weight that
day.
They were fed at about the same rate the following day,
and, as they were losing weight, they were given on the
23d two ounces of melon, all the grasshoppers that could be
collected near their place of confinement, four frogs, a sala-
mander, two ounces of tomato, and five ounces of corn. On
this diet the Crows regained some of the weight they had
lost, weighing the next morning sixteen and one-half and
thirteen and one-half ounces respectively. On the 24th they
were fed more than twelve ounces, and the larger bird lost
half an ounce and the smaller gained about the same weight.
On the 25th they received over seventeen ounces of food,
the smaller bird gaining another half ounce and the larger
bird remaining the same. No. 1 now weighed sixteen ounces
and No. 2 fourteen and one-half ounces. The next day,
with twelve ounces of food, the smaller bird lost one-half
ounce and the larger bird made no gain. Evidently where
any gain was made by one bird on this amount of food the
bird either got more than its share, or found some food in
the yard.
On August 28 nearly twenty-seven ounces of food were
given. ‘This was all vegetal matter except thirty grass-
hoppers (one-third of an ounce). J¢ was all eaten, and
apparently all needed, for neither bird increased in weight,
No. 1 losing half an ounce. It seemed evident throughout
the experiment that the birds required much animal food,
and when vegetal food alone was given, a larger amount
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 47
than usual was needed. The next day about twenty ounces
of food, containing a large proportion of animal matter, were
given; and on August 30 the larger bird had again regained
its weight of seventeen ounces, while the other held its own.
So far the experiment seemed to show that when they were
fed from twenty to twenty-five ounces of a ration containing
both animal and vegetable food the birds held their own or
gained slightly ; but if fed less than twenty ounces of this
ration, one or both of the birds fell off in weight.
After the death of one bird the other and all its food were
weighed daily. All opportunity to secure scattered grain or
other food than that weighed was denied. The greatest
weight reached by this bird was eighteen and one-half ounces
on September 13, on which date it was fed as much corn,
cucumber, and tomato as it cared to eat, also a frog, two
toads, twenty-seven grasshoppers, thirty-one borers, eight
beetles, and eighteen crickets. The record of the twelve
days during which this bird was alone seems to show that
less than eight ounces of food daily was hardly sufficient for
its needs, as on a less amount it tended to lose in weight,
while when the amount was increased to ten ounces or more
the tendency toward a daily gain in weight was marked.
When the quantity of food given these birds was largely
reduced in any one day, there was a corresponding reduction
in their weight. On September 13 the larger Crow was given
only two ounces of tomato, fifty-six grasshoppers, twelve
crickets, and a little grain, —in all, not much over three
ounces of food. The next morning it had lost one and
one-half ounces in weight. The fact that a bird, while in
confinement and without a great amount of exercise, could
lose nearly ten per cent. of its weight in a single day, even
when fed a quantity of food equal to about one-sixth its
weight, shows how dependent birds are upon their supply
of food.
If this single experiment can be regarded as conclusive,
we may assume that young Crows, when fledged, absolutely
require a daily amount of food equal to about one-half their
own weight; and it is evident that they will consume much
more than this to their own advantage if they can get it. It
48 TSHFUL BIRDS.
seems quite probable that a young bird at liberty, depend-
ing largely on its own exertions to procure food, and thus
exercising more than in confinement, would require still
more food to repair the consequent extra waste of the
tissues.
Others have made similar experiments with Crows in con-
finement. Samuels says that he has kept specimens in cap-
tivity, and has proved by observation that at least eight
ounces of such food as frogs, fish, ete., are eaten daily by
our common Crow. He says that a Crow can live on a very
limited allowance, but believes eight ounces to be a reasonable
amount. He leaves us to infer that he is speaking of adult
Crows, which undoubtedly require less food than their grow-
ing young.!
Weed and Dearborn kept a wounded adult Crow in a small
box, twelve by thirteen by twenty inches. In these cramped
quarters, where the bird could hardly stretch its wings, it
ate fish for three days in succession at the rate of four and
eighty-three hundredths ounces per day,—more than a
quarter of its own weight, or about half what our young
Crows ordinarily required.”
Probably the amount of food eaten by this captive bears
about the same proportion to the quantity eaten by a vigor-
ous Crow at liberty that the food taken by a prisoner in
solitary confinement, or that consumed by a sedentary clerk,
bears to the amount required by a strong man at hard labor,
or by a prize-fighter in training.
The amount of food taken by young birds could not be
disposed of by such limited powers of digestion as are given
to other animals. What a wonderful contrast is presented
between the quantity of food required by the hot-blooded,
quick-pulsing, active bird, and that needed by the cold-
blooded vertebrates. Many reptiles can live for months
without food. Even some of the mammals do not eat at
all during their hibernation.
‘ Birds of New England, by Edward A. Samuels, 1870, p. 359.
* Birds in their Relations to Man, by Clarence M. Weed and Ned Dearborn,
1903, p. 61.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 49
The Time required for Assimilation of Food.
If we assume that the stomach and cesophagus of a young
Crow can contain but an ounce of food, then the bird would
be required to digest from eight to twelve meals a day,
according to its appetite and opportunity. The question at
once arises, How can any digestive system complete such a
task? Experiments were made with our young Crows to
determine the time required for
digestion. The birds were kept
without food until the stomach
and intestines were empty.
They were then fed insects’ eggs,
in the belief that some parts of
the shells would escape the grind-
ing processes of the stomach and
be voided in the excreta. Sub-
sequent occurrences justified this
belief. Ten experiments of this
kind were made with the two
birds. Fig. 23.-— Young Crows, well
From the time when the birds peaeees
began to feed until the time when the first eggshells were
dropped in the excreta there elapsed, on the average, one
hour, twenty-nine minutes and forty-five seconds. The
shortest time was forty-eight minutes, and the longest one
hour and fifty-four minutes. This, it should be noted, was
not merely the time that the food remained in the stomach,
but the full interval occupied in digesting and assimilating
it, for within this period at least a part of the food had
passed the entire digestive tract.
In most cases all evidence of the food used in the experi-
ment had disappeared from the excreta in from two to two
and one-half hours. If we contrast this with the slower
digestion of man, we shall see how birds readily dispose of
more meals each day than a man is capable of digesting. To
learn how long food remains in a Crow’s stomach, it would be
necessary to kill a large number of Crows, each being killed
at a longer or shorter interval after it had filled its empty
50 USEFUL BIRDS.
stomach. I am not aware that this has ever been done, but
have no doubt that the majority of the farmers of Massachu-
setts would not object to the destruction of a considerable
number of young Crows for this purpose, or any other.
The Crow which was accidentally killed had fed freely
upon grasshoppers for twenty minutes, and died ten minutes
after the close of the feeding period. An examination of
the alimentary canal showed the stomach to be quite full,
but less than fifty per cent. of its contents, consisting mainly
of the hard parts of wings, thoraces, and legs, was in a con-
dition to be recognized. The strongly chitinized pronota
and hind femora of the grasshoppers offered the most resist-
ance to the digestive processes. The other fifty per cent.
of the stomach contents had been so finely divided, in the
very brief time that it had been in that receptacle, that one
would hardly have cared to express a positive opinion as
to its identity. This condition of stomach contents is not
unusual. In examining the contents of birds’ stomachs we
often find more than fifty per cent. of the food so finely
comminuted and mixed as to be practically unrecognizable.
The presence of insects in a bird’s stomach is sometimes made
known by a mere mandible or some other recognizable por-
tion, which has resisted for a time the grinding of this remark-
able digestive organ. It is significant, however, that, in the
thirty minutes intervening between the beginning of a feeding
period and death, the stomach had thoroughly pulverized
half the food eaten.
This experiment was carried further with the second Crow.
On September 14 the only food materials given the bird were
six crickets and eleven grasshoppers. These it ate within
four minutes, and thirty minutes later it was killed.
Only about twenty-five per cent. of the stomach contents
was recognizable, but this is not all. The alimentary canal
was thirty-six inches in length, and in the intestine at a
distance of from twelve to fifteen inches from the stomach,
and again at twenty-five to twenty-eight inches from that
organ, were found a few small pieces of the fore wings of the
grasshoppers. As the bird had not been fed since 4 o’clock
in the afternoon of the previous day, these remains probably
PLATE IV.—Red-eyed Vireo feeding Young. (Photograph by
C. A. Reed.)
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. ih
came from the insects fed to it not more than thirty-three
minutes before it was killed.
In summing up the results, Mr. Kirkland says: “I think,
from what we have seen, that we might expect to find the
gizzard empty in from one to one and one-half hours.”
Such an experiment should be carried further, but enough
was learned to show that the stomach of a young Crow prob-
ably can be filled with food and emptied of the digested
material from eight to twelve times a day during the long
days of midsummer, when their appetites are at their best.
Digestion in some of the smaller birds is doubtless even
more rapid, for they are enabled to dispose of a still larger
amount of food in proportion to their size. Mr. Owen in-
forms us that the time required for a blueberry to traverse
the digestive tract of his Hermit Thrush was practically an
hour and a half. Mr. C. J. Maynard once told me that in
a similar experiment a Cedar Bird passed the residue of food
within thirty minutes after the food was taken. Weed and
Dearborn found that a blackberry was digested by a young
Cedar Bird in half an hour.
The Number of Insects eaten by Young Birds in the Nest.
The remarkable appetites of young birds keep their de-
voted parents very busy supplying food most of the time
from morning till night. The mother bird spends practically
all her time either in searching for food, brooding, protect-
ing, and feeding the young, or cleaning the nest (for all the
smaller birds that nest openly are obliged to dispose of the
excreta of their young, that it may neither befoul the nest
nor betray its location to their enemies). Most of the visits
made by the old birds to the nest during the day are for the
dual purpose of feeding the young and keeping the nest
clean. Records kept of the number of these visits show
the industry of the parent birds and the food capacity of
the young.
My assistant, Mr. F. H. Mosher, watched a pair of Red-
eyed Vireos feeding their young on June 13, 1899. There
were three nestlings, about one day old. At this early age
the young of most small birds are fed mainly by regur-
a2 USEFUL BIRDS.
gitation. The parent birds swallow the food, and probably
soften or partly digest it, ejecting it afterwards through their
own mouths into the open mouths of the young. No attempt
was made, therefore, in this case, to determine the character
or amount of the food, for fear of disturbing the parents and
interrupting the regularity of the feeding. The birds were
fed between 7 and 8 A.M. four-
teen times: between 8 and 9,
nine times; between 9 and 10,
twelve times; between 10 and
11, seven times; between 11
and 12, sixteen times; between
12 and 1, nine times; between 1
and 2, twelve times; between
2 and 3, fifteen times; between
3 and 4, thirteen times; and be-
tween 4 and 5, eighteen times.
It will be seen that one or
the other parent came to the
nest with food one hundred and
Fig. 24.— Passenger Pigeon feeding twenty-five times in ten hours,
by regurgitation. From Samuels. even when the observer was
watching near by: but this leaves four hours unaccounted
for, to fill out the long June day, from dawn to evening.
The feeding periods averaged less than six minutes apart dur-
ing the time the birds were watched ; so it seems probable
that, had the entire record for the day been kept, at least
one hundred and fifty visits to the young would have been
recorded. Young birds are fed oftenest at morning and even-
ing, or during the hours when these Vireos were not watched.
Mr. Mosher watched a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
feeding their young on June 12, 1899. The young were
nearly ready to leave the nest, as one of them stood on a
branch near its edge. The nest was situated about fifteen
feet from the ground, in the top of a slender white bireh in
the woods. The ground was well covered with hazel bushes
about three and one-half feet high, which nearly concealed
the observer. During the first half hour he made no record,
as the birds were alarmed by his presence. As they com-
VALUH OF BIRDS LO MAN. 53
menced bringing food regularly, he began the record at 6
A.M. Between 6 and 7 they came to the nest fifty-two times ;
between 7 and 8, forty-seven times; between 8 and 9, forty-
three times; between 9 and 10, thirty times; between 10
and 11, thirty-six times; between 11 and 12, twenty-seven
times ; between 12 and 1, thirty-two times; between 1 and
2, thirty-eight times; between 2 and 3, forty-one times ;
between 3 and 4, twenty-two times; between 4 and 5, fifty-
eight times. The majority of the larve: seemed to be leaf
rollers from the oak trees. The female came on the average
about three times to cach two visits of the male; he was
occupied much of the time in keeping other birds away from
the vicinity of the nest.
When the young of most insect-eating birds are well grown,
the parents feed them whole insects just as they are picked
up. With a glass, therefore, the insects brought by these
Grosbeaks could be seen in the birds’ beaks. Their lusty
youngsters were fed almost entirely on insect larvee or cater-
pillars taken from the forest trees. On only four visits did
either parent bird bring less than two larvee each. In eleven
hours, then, they made four hundred and twenty-six trips,
and must have fed their nestlings at least eight hundred and
forty-eight larvee or caterpillars, and possibly more, as a bird
has been observed to carry as many as eleven small cater-
pillars on one visit to its young.
In comparing the records of the two nests as given above,
it is noticeable that the Grosbeaks fed the young much oftener
than did the Vireos. This difference is due mainly to the
fact that about the time the young birds are ready to fly,
as were these Grosbeaks, they require much more food than
when first hatehed, as was the case with the Vireos. This,
of course, is mainly owing to their increased size. The dif-
ference in the number, age, and size of the young probably
accounts largely for the great variation in the number of
visits made to them by the parent birds, as recorded by dif-
ferent observers.
I have published some notes on the feeding of young
Chickadees by the parent birds. Six visits were made to
these young within thirteen minutes. In each case the bills
a4 ISHFUL BIRDS.
of the parent birds were filled with a mass of small insects,
mainly ants and plant lice, to which were added a few spiders.
These young were also fully fledged.!
The number of young in the nests of the smaller perch-
ing birds is usually from three to five. In the case of the
Chickadees mentioned above there were seven, and in another.
case that I have recently observed there were nine. Chick-
adees and Wrens, because of their insectivorous habits and
the large broods they rear, probably reach the maximum in
the number of insects brought to their young.
Dr. Judd gives an account of the feeding of some young
House Wrens by the mother bird alone. These young Wrens
were about three-fourths grown, and were visited one hun-
dred and ten times in four hours and thirty-seven minutes.
They were fed, during this time, one hundred and eleven
insects and spiders. Among these were identified one white
grub, one soldier bug, three millers (Noctuidz), nine spiders,
nine grasshoppers, fifteen May flies, and thirty-four cater-
pillars. On the following day, in three hours and five min-
utes, the young were fed sixty-seven times.?
Professor Aughey states that during a locust year in
Nebraska he saw a pair of Long-billed Marsh Wrens take
thirty-one small locusts to their nest inan hour. It is inter-
esting to note that a pair of Rock Wrens that he watched
took just thirty-two locusts to their nest in another hour.?
Another observer is reported by Dr. Barton to have seen
a pair of Wrens coming from their box and returning with
insects from forty to sixty times an hour. In an exceptional
hour they carried food seventy-one times. He estimates
that at that time they took from the garden six hundred
insects per day.*
Few people, unfortunately, who are qualified for the task,
1 Two Years with the Birds on a Farm. Annual report of the Massachusetts
State Board of Agriculture, 1902, p. 129.
2 The Birds of a Maryland Farm, by Sylvester D. Judd. Bulletin No. 17,
United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Biological Survey,
pp. 45, 46.
3 Notes on the Nature of the Food of Nebraska Birds, by 8. A. Aughey. First
Report of the United States Entomological Commission, 1877, Appendix, p. 18.
4 Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania, by Dr. B. S. Barton,
Part I, 1799, p. 22.
She POLL EAL IE
Ss
ier
I
(From Ame
ale. with mass of insects in
m
—Chickadee. Fe
tering nesting bo
PLATE V
ri-
author’s window.
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x a
en
5
k
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thology.)
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c
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 5)
have both the time and patience to watch the feeding of young
birds for an entire day. Dr. C. M. Weed and Mr. W. F.
Fiske, however, have accomplished this feat. They watched
the nest of a Chipping Sparrow from 3.40 a.m. to 7.49 pew.
on June 22,1898. The valuable record of these observations
Fig. 25.—Chipping Sparrow feeding young.
shows that these two birds, having only three young in the
nest, visited it at least one hundred and eighty-two times
during that day; and Dr. Weed says that they made aimost
two hundred trips, although some of the trips evidently were
made to furnish grit for grinding the food. The birds were
busy from daylight to dark, with no long intermission. The
food, so far as identified, consisted largely of caterpillars.
Crickets and crane flies were seen, and it was believed that
a great variety of insect food was brought. !
A committee on useful birds, selected from the Pennsyl-
vania State Board of Agriculture, reported that an observer
had watched the nest of a pair of Martins for sixteen hours,
from 4 a.m. until 8 p.w., to see how many visits the parent
birds made to the young. One hundred and nineteen visits
were made by the male and one hundred and ninety-three by
the female.?
' The Feeding Habits of the Chipping Sparrow, by C. M. Weed. Bulletin
No. 55, New Hampshire College Agricultural Experiment Station, 1898.
* ©. C. Musselinan, in Agriculture of Pennsylvania, 1887, p. 105.
56 USEFUL BIRDS.
The number of insects consumed daily by young birds in
their nests is difficult of estimation, because of the variation
in size among insects and the great difference in size between
the mature insect and the newly hatched larva. Five hun-
dred of the young larvee of a moth might occupy less space
in the stomach of a bird than would the moth itself; while a
thousand aphids might take no more room than a full-grown
caterpillar. Nevertheless, many estimates have been made,
based on known data, as to the number of insects fed to
young birds.
The introduced House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), com-
monly called the English Sparrow, undoubtedly eats fewer
insects, here, in proportion to the rest of its food than any of
our smaller native birds. The young are fed very largely on
grain and other non-insectivorous food. Still, a Sparrow’s
nest in the city of Paris is said to have contained seven hun-
dred pairs of chafer wing-cases.!
Mons. P. Pélicot gives a table of the estimates, made by
several foreign authors, of the numbers of insects eaten by
Sparrows in a given time. These approximations vary from
that of Blatin, who estimates that two Sparrows will destroy
twelve hundred chafers in twelve days, to that of Tschudi,
who believes that a single Sparrow will destroy fifteen hun-
dred larvee within twenty-four hours.”
Bradley mentions watching a bird’s nest and discovering
that five hundred caterpillars were consumed in one day.?
He says (according to Samuels) that a pair of Sparrows
will destroy thirty-three hundred and sixty caterpillars for
a week’s family supplies. A single pair of Sparrows is
reported to have carried to the nest five hundred insects in
an hour.
These statements may be exaggerated, but if they approx-
imate the facts, what immense numbers of insects must be
1 Notes on Recent Progress of Agricultural Science, by David A. Wells. Re-
port (on Agriculture) of the United States Commissioner of Patents, 1861, p. 325.
2 A Favorable View of the English Sparrow, a Review of ‘‘Un Passereau
a Protéger,’’ Insect Life, Riley and Howard, Vol. LV, 1891, p. 153, published by
the United States Department of Agriculture.
8 Birds and Bird Laws, by J. R. Dodge. Annual Report of the United States
Commissioner of Agriculture, 1864, pp. 456, 437.
a |
VALUH OF BIRDS TO MAN. 2)
consumed by the young of native Massachusetts birds that
are fed almost entirely upon insect food.
Weed and Dearborn watched three young Cedar Birds in
the nest for the fifteen days they remained there, and found
that they each devoured not less than ten ounces of food in
that time, or more than ten times their weight on the day
they left the nest.
The Amount of Food eaten by Adult Birds.
There is no way of determining how much food is required
daily by the adult bird, except it be kept in confinement ; in
that case, the food taken can be weighed or measured. This
has been done. Dr. Stanley mentions sixteen Canaries which
ate one hundred grains of food per day, or an amount equal
to about one-sixth of their weight, which is probably much
less than wild birds of the same species would eat.! Seed-
eating birds, like the Canary, however, require less food
than the insectivorous species, as their food is more con-
centrated. Mr. Robert Ridgway, the distinguished ornithol-
ogist of the Smithsonian Institution, makes the statement in
the American Naturalist for August, 1869, that a Western
Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis), which he kept in a cage,
devoured one hundred and twenty locusts in a single day.
Compared with the wild bird, the specimen that is caged
or confined is a poor, weak thing at best, short of breath,
low in vitality, and lacking the vigorous assimilative powers
of the free bird. Keepers of cage birds, who know well
the capacity of their pets, find it difficult to believe that
wild birds can possibly consume the amount of food that
actually has been found in their stomachs by economic
ornithologists.
When the reader is told that thirty grasshoppers were found
in the stomach of a single Catbird, he conjures up a mental
photograph of the full-grown grasshopper (the imago) that
he sees in the field in late summer, and fails to remember,
perhaps, that grasshoppers come from eggs, and in their
growth to maturity may be found of all sizes, between that
of the newly hatched insect and the full-winged hopper.
1 History of Birds, p. 225.
a8 USEFUL BIRDS.
While the Catbird’s stomach might not be large enough to
contain thirty full-grown locusts, it would easily contain more
than thirty small ones. The statement that thirty grasshop-
pers were found in the Catbird’s stomach might also need
modification in another way. The least fragment of an in-
sect found in a bird’s stomach is usually considered good
proof that the bird has eaten that insect. There might be
found in the stomach of a bird a mass of unrecognizable
material, from which the expert would be able to sort out
and recognize enough of the harder parts of different grass-
hoppers to prove that thirty of these insects, of consider-
able size, had been eaten within a certain time, even though
a greater part of those first swallowed had already disap-
peared from the stomach.
Prof. F. E. L. Beal writes me as follows regarding the
methods used at the United States Department of Agri-
culture in counting the insects found in the stomachs of
birds : —
In the case of grasshoppers and caterpillars it is the jaws (mandi-
bles) that are counted. Birds when not sleeping appear to eat all the
time when not occupied in other duties, such as nest-making or feeding
their young. The process of digestion is continuous. ‘The more easily
digested parts pass out of the stomach very quickly, but the hard parts
remain somewhat longer. In this way when a bird is feeding upon
grasshoppers the jaws of those first eaten remain after the rest of
the body has passed on. When the stomach is opened the jaws are
counted, and for every two we estimate at least one grasshopper killed.
In cases where only a few insects were involved I have taken the pains
to pair the jaws, and in this way have often found that the number that
had been eaten was more than half the number of jaws. In this work
each head that appears to be whole is carefully examined, to see that it
has not lost one or more of its jaws; were it not for this precaution,
the insect might be counted twice. Caterpillars, like grasshoppers,
are easily broken up, and so the heads are counted when whole; other-
wise the jaws are counted.
The variation in size of different species of insects should
also be considered. While the caterpillars of some species
of moths reach three or four inches in length, others never
erow to be half an inch long.
>
These and other similar considerations, well known to
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. a)
the economic ornithologist, lead him to accept as facts the
extreme statements made by competent investigators.
It will be seen from the foregoing explanations that, while
a large number of injurious insects found in a bird’s stom-
ach may indicate its usefulness, it may not always mean that
it has eaten a great bulk or quantity of such food.
The question which most interests the farmer, however,
is, not so much what birds require to sustain life, as how
much they will eat if they can get their fill. If in times of
plenty birds will eat more than they really need, then they
become more useful or injurious, as the case may be, than
they would be if they ate only enough to live. The amount
of food that has been found in birds’ gizzards indicates that
they will eat until surfeited.
Professor Beal, who has examined the contents of over
twenty thousand stomachs, says, regarding this habit :—
The majority of people have no idea of how much these insects can
be compressed in the stomach of a bird. It is often the case that when
a stomach has been opened, and the contents placed in a pile, the heap
is two or three times as large as the original stomach with the food all
in it. Moreover, in the cases where remarkable numbers of insects
have been found, the crops or gullets usually have been full, as well as
the stomach itself. It is a fact, perhaps not generally known, that with
birds that have no special enlargement of the gullet in the nature of a
crop, the whole gullet is used for the purpose; and when favorite food
is abundant, the bird will fill itself to the throat. I have seen a Snow-
bird so full of seeds that they were plainly in sight when the beak was
opened, and from the bill to the stomach was a solid mass of seed.
The stomachs of birds are often packed so hard and tight with food
that it is a wonder how the process of digestion can go on; but it does,
nevertheless.
In giving the maximum amounts of food found in birds’
stomachs, I shall be obliged to refer to the publications of
the Bureau of Biological Survey of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture; and it is but just to say here
that the world owes much to Dr. Merriam, chief of the
Bureau, for his indefatigable labors in behalf of science and
agriculture.
In connection with the work of the survey, the contents
of more than thirty-five thousand bird stomachs have been
60 ISEFUL BIRDS.
examined, and much has been done in observing the feed-
ing habits of birds in the field. The work in economic orni-
thology performed by Merriam, Fisher, Barrows, Beal, and
Judd is of great value. Its results rank above those of
all other similar investigations, and must be considered as
authoritative.
Professor Beal found in the stomach of a Yellow-billed
Cuckoo two hundred and seventeen fall webworms, and in
another two hundred and fifty American tent caterpillars.
Two Flickers were found to have eaten respectively three
thousand and five thousand ants. Sixty grasshoppers were
found in the stomach of a Nighthawk.
Professor Harvey found five hundred mosquitoes in a
Nighthawk’s stomach. In this case the insects must have
been fully grown, as the larve of the mosquito are found
mainly in water, and the Nighthawk takes its food on the
wing. The stomach of this useful bird is much larger in pro-
portion to its size than that of most other birds; but sey-
enty-five hundred seeds of the yellow wood sorrel had been
eaten by a Mourning Dove, sixty-four hundred by another,
and ninety-two hundred seeds, chiefly of weeds, were found
in another. Here we have twenty-three thousand one hun-
dred seeds, mostly those of weeds, eaten at a meal by three
birds. Probably where these large numbers are given, the
result is approximate, and is arrived at by counting a part
of the contents for a measure, and from this estimating the
rest in bulk.
Dr. Judd says that the stomachs of four Bank Swallows
contained, all together, just two hundred ants, and that a
Nighthawk has been known to eat one thousand at a single
meal. He speaks of seventeen hundred seeds of weeds hav-
ing been taken at one feeding by a Bob-white ; three thou-
sand leguminous seeds were found in the stomach of another,
and no less than five thousand seeds of pigeon grass were
taken from a third. Dr. Warren has taken twenty-eight
cutworms from the stomach of a Red-winged Blackbird.
Stomachs of Snowflakes have each contained from five
hundred to fifteen hundred seeds of amaranth. Professor
Forbes found in the stomachs of seven Cedar Birds a number
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 61
of cankerworms varying from seventy to one hundred and
one each, the number found in most cases averaging nearly
one hundred for each bird.
A Ruffed Grouse, killed in winter, had in its crop twelve
leaves of sheep laurel and four hundred and thirty-five buds
and bits of branches, all taken for its morning meal. The
crop of another contained over five hundred buds and twigs.
As these birds eat such food both at morning and at night, it
would seem that they must require daily, for these two meals
alone, between eight hundred and one thousand buds and
twigs.!
The following notes, received from Professor Beal since
the above was written, are of great interest : —
From the stomach of a Franklin’s Gull (Larus franklinii) there were
taken seventy entire grasshoppers and the jaws of fifty-six more; from
another, ninety grasshoppers and one hundred and two additional jaws ;
from another, forty-eight grasshoppers and seventy more jaws ; and still
another contained sixty-seven grasshoppers. Another stomach of this
species contained sixty-eight crickets. These grasshoppers and crickets
were each more than one inch in length. We examined the stomach
of a Franklin’s Gull which contained three hundred and twenty-seven
entire nymphs of dragon flies, each three-fourths of an inch in length.
In the stomach of a Cliff Swallow were found one hundred entire
beetles (Aphodius inquinatus), with remains of others. These insects
are a little more than three-eighths of an inch in length. We are now
examining birds’ stomachs from Texas, and from the stomach of a Yel-
low-billed Cuckoo were taken the remains of eighty-two caterpillars
that originally were from one to one and a half inches in length. From
another stomach were taken eighty-six, and from forty to sixty from
several others.
All evidence acquired by observation as to the amount of
food eaten by wild birds at liberty must perforce be frag-
mentary, for such observation is necessarily limited to brief
periods. The difficulties attending such work make its re-
sults somewhat uncertain and unsatisfactory ; nevertheless,
some information as to the quantity of food eaten by wild
birds may be obtained in this way. Vultures are said to so
gorge themselves that they are unable to fly. I have known
1 Birds in their Relation to Man, by Clarence M. Weed and Ned Dearborn,
1903) p. 62.
62 USHFUL BIRDS.
a Goshawk in winter to kill a domestic Cock of more than
its own weight, and devour the greater part at two meals.
I have learned, by following certain Warblers and Titmice
through the woods, that their search for and consumption of
insects are almost continuous during most of the forenoon.
As the noon hour approaches they become less active, and
on warm days devote some time to resting and bathing. In
the afternoon their activity increases, until toward night
their quest for food is almost as strenuous as in the early
morning. They are, therefore, actually engaged for the
larger part of the day in capturing and eating insects. In
feeding wild birds in winter I have noticed that Chickadees
come to the food supplied for them about three times an hour
all day long, and that in the intervals they are mainly occu-
pied in finding their natural food. On May 28, 1898, Mr.
Mosher watched a pair of Northern Yellow-throats eating
plant lice from the birches in the Middlesex Fells Reserva-
tion, where these insects swarmed. He was equipped with
a good glass, and concealed close to the spot where the birds
were feeding, and so was able to count in turn the number
of times each bird picked up an insect. One of these War-
blers apparently swallowed eighty-nine of these tiny insects
in one minute. The pair continued eating at this rate for
forty minutes. Mr. Mosher states that they must have eaten
considerably over seven thousand plant lice in that time. It
would seem impossible for the birds to crowd that number
of insects into their stomachs; but we must remember that
the insects were infinitesimal in size, soft-bodied, easily com-
pressed in the stomach, and quickly digested, so that by the
time a part were eaten those first taken would be well dis-
posed of, leaving room for more. Mr. Mosher is a very
careful, painstaking, and trustworthy observer ; undoubtedly
his statement is accurate; but, to eliminate any possibility
of error, we will assume for purposes of calculation that
they ate only thirty-five hundred in an hour.
A pair of Yellow-throats (presumably the same) were seen
to come daily and many times each day to the birch trees
which were infested with these aphids. Probably they spent
at least three hours each day feeding on these insects. If
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 63
the two birds ate only thirty-five hundred an hour for three
hours a day, they would consume ten thousand tive hundred
aphids each day, or seventy-three thousand five hundred in
a week. It requires no
draft on the imagination
to see how such appe-
tites may become useful
to the farmer if they are
satiated on his insect
enemies.
Two Scarlet Tanagers
were seen eating very _. 4 yf:
= E Fig. 26.— Yellow-throat catching birch aphids.
small caterpillars of the
gipsy moth for eighteen minutes, at the rate of thirty-five
a minute. These birds spent much time in that way. If
we assume that they ate caterpillars at this rate for only an
hour each day, they must have consumed daily twenty-one
hundred caterpillars, or fourteen thousand seven hundred
in a week. Such a number of caterpillars would be suffi-
cient to defoliate two average apple trees, and so prevent
fruitage. The removal of these caterpillars might enable the
trees to bear a full crop. It is easily possible, therefore,
for a single pair of these birds in a week’s time to save the
fruit of two average apple trees, —a crop worth from two
to five dollars or more, according to the productiveness of
the trees and the price paid for apples.
BIRDS SAVE TREES AND CROPS FROM DESTRUCTION.
Since birds evidently operate to check insect outbreaks, it
follows that in their capacity of insect destroyers they must
in many instances have saved trees and crops from destruc-
tion by insect pests. If, however, we turn to the literature
of agriculture, entomology, and ornithology, we shall not find
it replete with such instances. Still, there are enough on
record to show that conspicuous services of birds have been
noted occasionally ; and I am convinced by my own experi-
ence that such checks to insect increase occur commonly, but
escape both observation and record.
Some brief but striking accounts of this class of occur-
64 USEFUL BIRDS.
rences may be gleaned from European records. Samuels
writes that in Pomerania in 1847 an immense forest that was
in danger of being utterly ruined by caterpillars was very
unexpectedly saved by Cuckoos, which, though on the point
of migrating, established themselves there for some weeks,
and so thoroughly cleared the trees that the next year “neither
depredators nor depredations. were to be seen.”! He also
speaks of a European outbreak of the gipsy moth (Lombyx
dispar) in 1848, saying that the hand of man was powerless
to work off the infliction, but that on the approach of winter
Titmice and Wrens paid daily visits to the infested trees,
and before spring had arrived the eggs of dispar were en-
tirely destroyed. This account agrees with the following
translation from Altum :—
In the year 1848 endless numbers of the larvee of Bombyx dispar had
eaten every leaf from the trees of Count Wodzicki, so that they were
perfectly bare. In the fall all the branches and limbs were covered
with the egg clusters. After he had recognized the impracticability of
it, he gave up all endeayor to remove them by hand, and prepared to
see his beautiful trees die. Towards winter numerous flocks of Titmice
and Wrens came daily to the trees. The egg clusters disappeared. In
the spring twenty pairs of 'Titmice nested in the garden, and the larva
plague was noticeably reduced. In the year 1850 the small feathered
garden police had cleaned his trees, so that he saw them during the
entire summer in their most beautiful verdure.?
According to Reaumur, these larve were so extremely
numerous on the limes of the Alle verte at Brussels in 1826
that many of the great trees of that noble avenue were nearly
defoliated. The moths swarmed like bees in the summer.
They were also very numerous in the park, and if one-half
the eggs had hatched in the following spring, probably scarce
a leaf would have remained in these favorite places of public
resort. Two months later, however, he could scarcely dis-
cover a single egg cluster. This happy result was attributed
to the Titmice and Creepers, which were seen busily running
up and down the tree trunks.?
1 Agricultural Value of Birds, by E. A. Samuels. Annual Report of the
Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1865-66, pp. 116, 117.
* Translated from Forstzoologie, II, 1880, p. 524.
8 Reau. i387. Cited by Kirby and Spence in their Introduction to Entomology,
1857, pp. 117, 118.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 65
The value of birds has already been recognized at the
antipodes. Australian farmers have suffered greatly from
inroads of locusts upon their crops and pastures.
The Australian correspondence of the Mark Lane Express
of March 7, 1892, had a paragraph relating to the value of
the Ibis to farmers during the locust incursions of that year
and the year previous. In the Glen Thompson district
several large flocks, one said to number fully five hundred
birds, were seen eating the young locusts in a wholesale
manner. Other insectivorous birds were flourishing upon
the same diet. Near Ballarat, Victoria, a swarm of locusts
was noted in a paddock; and just as it was feared that all
the sheep would have to be sold for want of grass, flocks of
Starlings, Spoonbills, and Cranes made their appearance, and
in a few days made so complete a destruction of the locusts
that only about forty acres of grass were lost.1
American farmers have had many similar experiences.
When the Mormons first settled in Utah their crops were
almost utterly destroyed by myriads of crickets that came
Fig. 2'7.— The western cricket that destroyed the settlers’ crops at Salt Lake.
Natural size; after Glover.
down from the mountains. Hon. Geo. Q. Cannon, as tem-
porary chairman of the third irrigation congress, told how it
happened. The first year’s crop having been destroyed, the
Mormons had sowed seed the second year. The crop prom-
ised well, but when again the crickets appeared, the people
were in danger of starvation. In describing the conditions
in 1848 Mr. Cannon says : —
1 Insect Life, Riley and Howard, 1891-92, Vol. TV, p. 409.
oe
lor)
USEFUL BIRDS.
Black crickets came down by millions and destroyed our grain
crops; promising fields of wheat in the morning were by evening
as smooth as a man’s hand,—devoured by the crickets. . . . At this
juncture sea Gulls came by hundreds and thousands, and before the
crops were entirely destroyed these Gulls devoured the insects, so that
our fields were entirely freed from them. . . . The settlers at Salt
Lake regarded the advent of the birds as a heayven-sent miracle.
I have been along the ditches in the morning and have seen lumps of
these crickets vomited up by the Gulls, so that they could again begin
killing.
These “lumps of crickets” were probably pellets com-
posed of indigestible portions of the insects, regurgitated
by the birds. These crickets (Anabrus purpurascens) tray-
Fig. 28.— Gulls saving crops by killing crickets.
elled in enormous hordes, stopping at no obstacle, even
crossing rivers. Several times afterward the crops of the
Mormons were attacked by them, and were saved by the
Gulls.t. Dr. A. K. Fisher is authority for the statement
1 This account of the deliverance of the Mormons by the Gulls is vouched for
by many witnesses. See Irrigation Age, 1894, p. 188; also, Insect Life, Vol. VIT,
p- 275; Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1871, p.
76; Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of Agriculture, 1871, p. 79;
and Second Annual Report of the United States Entomological Commission,
1878-79, p. 166.
a |
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 6
that the bird referred to is undoubtedly Franklin’s Gull
(Larus franklinii), which occurs in enormous flocks about
the small fresh-water lakes of the northwest, and feeds in
great companies on Orthoptera of all sorts. The Gulls were
practically canonized by the grateful Mormons, and protected
by both law and public sentiment, as a recognition of their
worth.
Similar services were performed by birds during the great
locust ravages which followed the settlement of the Missis-
sippi valley. When large swarms of locusts appeared, nearly
all birds, from the tiny Kinglet to the great Whooping Crane,
fed on them. Fish-eating birds, like the Great Blue Heron,
flesh-eating birds, like the Hawks and Owls, shore birds,
Ducks, Geese, Gulls, —all joined with the smaller land birds
in the general feast. Prof. Samuel Aughey learned this
by dissecting birds and observing their feeding habits in
Nebraska. In a paper published by him in 1877, but not
often quoted, he gives some of the practical results of the
work done by birds in protecting crops from the mighty
swarms of locusts which were devastating most of that
region. He says : —
In the spring of 1865 the locusts hatched out in countless numbers in
northeastern Nebraska. Very few fields of corn and the cereal grains
escaped some damage. Some fields were entirely destroyed, while
others were hurt to the amount of from ten to seventy-five per cent.
One field of corn northwest of Dakota City was almost literally covered
with locusts, and there the indications were that not a stalk would
escape. After, and about the time the corn was up, the Yellow-headed
Blackbirds in large numbers made this field their feeding ground.
Visiting the field frequently, I could see a gradual diminution of the
number of the locusts. Other birds, especially the Plovers, helped the
Yellow-heads ; and, although some of the corn had to be replanted once,
yet it was the birds that made the crop that was raised possible at all.
During the same season I visited Pigeon Creek valley, in this county,
and I found among the eaten-up wheat fields one where the damage
done was not over five per cent. The Irishman who pointed it out to me
ascribed it to the work of the birds, chief among which were the Black-
bird and Plover, with a few Quail and Prairie Chickens.
Professor Aughey speaks of a locality where, on several
old fields, locusts hatched to the number of about three hun-
68 USHFUL BIRDS.
dred to the square foot. Birds soon found them, and the
ground was frequented by Blackbirds, Plover, Curlews,
Prairie Chickens and small land birds. Long before the
middle of June most of the locusts had disappeared. In
1886 locusts, he says, invaded Cedar and Dixon counties in
swarms that darkened the sun. Nevertheless, at one point
under observation the great number of birds that attacked
these insects very materially lessened their numbers. In
1869 more than ninety per cent. of the locusts in one
neighborhood were destroyed, apparently by birds, in one
week. Other experiences are given, and several interesting
letters from farmers are published, one of which follows : —
DeEAR Str:—In answer to your question about the birds and the
locusts, I must say this: every farmer that shoots birds must be a fool.
I had wheat this last spring on new breaking. The grasshoppers came
out apparently as thick as the wheat itself, and indeed much thicker. I
gave up that field for lost. Just then great numbers of Plover came,
and flocks of Blackbirds and some Quail, and commenced feeding on
this field. They cleaned out the locusts so well that I had at least
three-fourths of a crop, and I know that without the birds I would not
have had any. I know other farmers whose wheat was saved in the
same way. S. E. GoopMorE.
FREMONT, NEB.
Another farmer wrote that the locusts hatched in immense
numbers in his corn fields, but flocks of Blackbirds came and
destroyed the insects, so that he raised a good crop. In an-
other case, related by State Senator Crawford, a wheat field
was swept clean by the locusts when the wheat was about
two inches high; but flocks of Blackbirds came and de-
voured the locusts, and the wheat sprang up again and made
a good crop. The members of the United States Entomo-
logical Commission were much impressed with the value of
birds as locust destroyers. They said that the ocular dem-
onstration of the usefulness of birds as insect destroyers was
“so full and complete that it was impossible to entertain any
doubt on this point.” In one instance a farmer took one
of the members of the commission out into the field, to
show him how numerously the young locusts were hatching.
TALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 69
When they arrived, the insects had disappeared from the
place where they had been so abundant in the morning.
The statement by the family that a flock of Blackbirds had
been there during the farmer’s absence solved the mystery.
In another instance a garden was attacked by an innumer-
able host of little locusts. The owner battled bravely with
them for awhile, but at last, giving up in despair, sat down
to watch the destruction of his vegetables and flowers, when
suddenly a flock of Blackbirds alighted on the young cot-
tonwoods he had planted in his yard. Having chirped a
song, as if to cheer him, they flew into the garden ; when
they left, an hour or so later, the dreaded “hoppers” were
gone, and his garden was saved.!
A severe outbreak of the forest tent caterpillar (Malaco-
soma disstria) occurred in New York and some of the New
England States in 1897-98. Thousands of acres of wood-
land were devastated, great damage was done to the sugar-
maple orchards of New York and Vermont, and the injury
extended into Massachusetts. Birds and other natural ene-
mies attacked the caterpillars vigorously in many localities,
and by the year 1900 the plague had been reduced so that
the injury was no longer seen. Miss Mary B. Sherman of
Ogdensburg, N. Y., wrote on May 18 of that year that the
town was then full of birds which were feeding on the cater-
pillars. There had been numerous Warblers in the maples,
and the Orioles, Sparrows, Robins, Cedar Birds, several
species of Warblers, and probably the House Wren, were
killing caterpillars. Birds were reported in large numbers
in the county. On May 26 she wrote again, stating that
there were practically no caterpillars left, cold weather hav-
ing killed many, and the birds apparently having destroyed
the remainder.”
The good accomplished by birds in quelling great insect in-
vasions should be patent to all, but very few people realize
what the birds are doing. Many Nebraskans failed to notice
1 First Report of the United States Entomological Commission. Riley, Pack-
ard, and Thomas. 1877, pp. 335, 336, 338-344.
* Report on the Injurious and Other Insects of the State of New York, by
E. P. Felt, 1900, p. 1019.
70 USEFUL BIRDS.
that birds were feeding on the locusts until Professor Aughey
called their attention to this fact by articles published in the
press.
Birds are doing the same kind of work in Massachusetts
to-day, in repressing smaller outbreaks of common insects.
Had we more observing people to record such services, their
amount and variety probably would astound us. Professor
Beal saw a family of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks clear the potato
beetles from a potato patch of about one-fourth of an acre.
Mr. E. W. Wood of West Newton, a well-known horticultur-
ist, informed me that during one season, when the spring can-
kerworms (Paleacrita vernata) became quite numerous in his
orchard, a pair of Baltimore Orioles appeared, built a nest
near by, and fed daily upon the cankerworms. This they
continued to do assiduously: by the time the young birds
were hatched, the numbers of the worms were considerably
reduced. The birds then redoubled their diligence, carry-
ing ten or eleven worms to the nest at once. Soon the
cankerworms had disappeared, and there has been no trouble
from them for many years.
Instances were recorded during the first State campaign
against the gipsy moth, from 1890 to 1895, where small
isolated moth colonies appeared to have been suppressed
and even annihilated by birds. A serious outbreak was
discovered in Georgetown, Mass., in 1899. It had been in
existence for a long time, but its spread had evidently been
limited by the great number of birds that were feeding there
on all forms of the moth. Several months later the State
abandoned the work against the moth, and little hope was
entertained that anything more than a severe check had been
given the insect in Georgetown. Nevertheless, in the six
years that have since elapsed comparatively few moths have
been found in that locality. The most feasible explanation
of this seems to be that up to 1906 the birds have kept the
numbers of the moths below the point where they can do
appreciable injury.
I have had several opportunities, within the last fifteen
years, to watch the checking of insect uprisings by birds.
One morning in the fall of 1904 I noticed in some poplar
VALUE .OF BIRDS TO MAN. 71
trees near the shore of the Musketaquid a small flock of
Myrtle and Black-poll Warblers, busily feeding on a swarm
of plant lice. There were not more than fifteen birds. The
insects were mainly imagoes, and some of them were flying.
The birds were pursuing these through the air, but were also
seeking those that remained on the trunks and branches. I
watched these birds
for some time, noted
their activity, and
» ‘ Satara
then passed on, but = AON,
NOES ek TOS dae RTCA
returned and ob- avn HTTP Re (alls fo {Li WW NE
served their move-
ments quite closely
at intervals all day.
Toward night some
of the insects had
scattered to neigh-
boring trees, and a
few of the birds
were pursuing them
there; but most of
the latter remained
at or about the place
where the aphis Fig. 29.— Warblers destroying a swarm of plant lice.
swarm was first seen, and they were still there at sundown.
The swarm decreased rapidly all day, until just before sunset
it was difficult to find even a few specimens of the insect.
The birds remained until it was nearly dark, for they were
still finding a few insects on the higher branches. The plant
lice I had secured for identification were destroyed or lib-
erated during the night, probably by a deer mouse which
frequented the camp; so the next morning at sunrise I went
to the trees to look for more specimens. The birds, how-
ever, were there before me, and I was unable to find a single
aphis on the trees. The last bird to linger was more suc-
cessful than I, for it was still finding a few ; but it soon gave
up the effort, and left for more fruitful fields. Probably a
few insects escaped by flight ; but in examining the locality
in 1905 I could not find one. The apparently complete
72 USEFUL BIRDS.
destruction of these insects may have been due in part to
the hard winter that ensued, but the effect produced by the
birds was most obvious.
Such instances of the quelling of insect outbreaks by birds
are noticeable, but the regulative influence steadily and
perennially exerted by them, which tends to keep hundreds
of species of injurious insects below the point where their
injury to trees and plants would become apparent, is very
seldom appreciated.
THE INCREASE OF INJURIOUS INSECTS FOLLOWING
THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS.
Many cases have been noted where the destruction of birds
has been followed by an immediate increase in the numbers
of injurious insects. Frederick the Great, king of Prussia,
being particularly fond of cherries, was annoyed to see that
the Sparrows were destroying his favorite fruit. An edict
was issued ordering Sparrow extermination. All the re-
sources of the fowler were brought to bear, and the cam-
paign was so successful that not only were the Sparrows
destroyed, but many other birds were either killed or driven
away by the extraordinary measures taken against the Spar-
rows. Within two years cherries and most other fruits were
wanting. The trees were defoliated by caterpillars and other
insects, and the great Frederick, seeing his error, imported
Sparrows at considerable expense to take the place of the
birds that had been killed.?
In the year 1798 the forests in Saxony and Brandenburg
were attacked by a general mortality. The greater part of
the trees, especially the firs and pines, died as if struck at
the roots by some secret malady. The foliage was not de-
voured by caterpillars; the trees perished without showing
any signs of external disease. This calamity became so gen-
eral that the regency of Saxony sent naturalists and skillful
foresters to find out the cause. They soon found it in the
multiplication of one of the lepidopterous insects, which in
its larval state fed within the tree upon the wood. When-
1 Avricultural Value of Birds, by E. A. Samuels. Annual Report of the Mas-
sachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1865-66, pp. 116, 117.
~I
oo
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN.
ever any bough of the fir or the pine was broken this insect
was found within it, and had often hollowed it out even to the
bark. The naturalists reported that apparently the extraor-
dinary increase of the insect was owing to the entire dis-
appearance of several species of Woodpecker and Titmouse,
which had not been seen in the forest for some years.!
In 1858 Kearly wrote to the Entomologists’ Intelligencer
that a friend who had been spending a short time in Belgium
informed him that in the previous year Sparrows and other
birds had appeared in the park at Brussels in unusual num-
bers. These birds probably were attracted by an unusual
supply of insect food: but complaint was made of the
Sparrows as a nuisance, and their destruction was ordered.
“But,” says Kearly, “it now turns out that in exterminat-
ing the birds the park goers have got rid of one evil only
to entail upon themselves a greater. Throughout the past
summer the place has swarmed with insect pests.” He says
also that the larva of the gipsy moth stripped nearly all of
the trees of their foliage, and was one of the chief offenders.
He adds that, had the authorities known what Kirby and
Spence say on this subject (regarding the destruction of
this insect by birds ia Brussels in 1826), they would have
remained guiltless of killing their feathered protectors.
During the year 1861 the harvests of France gave an un-
usually poor return, and a commission to investigate the
cause of the deficiency was appointed at the instance of the
Minister of Agriculture.? The commission took counsel
of experienced naturalists, St. Hilaire, Prevost, and others.
By this commission the deficiency was attributed in a great
degree to the ravages of insects which it is the function of
certain birds to check.
It seems that the French people had been killing and
eating not merely the game birds, but the smaller birds
as well. Insect-eating birds had been shot, snared, and
trapped throughout the country. Fruit-eating and grain-
eating species especially had been persecuted. Birds’ eggs
1 Utility of Birds, by Wilson Flagg. Annual Report of the Massachusetts
State Board of Agriculture, 1861, pp. 66, 67.
* Notes on the Progress of Agricultural Science, by David A. Wells. Report
of the United States Commissioner of Patents, 1861, pp. 522, 525.
74 USEFUL BIRDS.
had been taken in immense numbers. A single child had
been known to come in at night with a hundred eggs, and
the number of birds’ eggs destroyed in the country each year
was estimated at eighty to one hundred millions. Before
such persecution the birds were actually dying out. Some
species had already disappeared, and others were rapidly
diminishing. As an apparent result of the destruction of
birds, the vines, the fruit trees, the forest trees, and the
erain in the fields, had suffered much from the attacks of
destructive insects, that had increased as a result of the dis-
turbance of nature’s balance caused by the decrease of birds.
In one department of the east of France the value of the wheat
destroyed by insects in a single season was estimated at five
million franes. It was concluded that by no agency save that
of little birds could the ravages of insects be kept down.
The commission called for prompt and energetic remedies,
and suggested that the teachers and clergy should endeavor
to put the matter in its proper light before the people.
In 1895 I received a letter from Mons. J. O. Clercy,
secretary of the Society of Natural Sciences, Ekaterinburg,
Russian Siberia, in which he stated that the ravages of two
species of cutworms and some ten species of locusts had con-
tributed (together with the want of rain) to produce a famine
in that region. One of the evident causes which permitted
such a numerous propagation of insect pests was, he said,
the almost complete destruction of birds, most of which had
been killed and sent abroad by wagonloads for ladies’ hats.
A law for the protection of birds was then enacted, and, said
M. Clercy, “The poor little creatures are doing their best
to reoccupy their old places in the woods and gardens.” The
reoccupation, however, did not go on as rapidly as did the
destruction.!
Mr. R. E. Turner, in an important paper upon insects,
read before an agricultural conference at Mackay, Queens-
land, stated that he considered that the decrease of insectiy-
orous birds, owing to their indiscriminate shooting by the
Kanakas on the plantations, had a great deal to do with the
1 The Gipsy Moth, by E. H. Forbush and C. H. Fernald, p. 206. Published
by the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1896.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. (5)
increase of the sugar-cane insects, particularly white grubs,
which were then so abundant.! A similar effect was observed
by the early settlers of America to follow the shooting of
the birds which attacked their crops. Kalm states, in his
Travels in America, that in 1749, after a great destruction
among the Crows and Blackbirds for a legal reward of three
pence per dozen, the northern States experienced a complete
loss of their grass and grain crops. The colonists were
obliged to import hay from England to feed their cattle.
The greatest losses from the ravages of the Rocky Mountain
locust were coincident with, or followed soon after, the de-
struction by the people of countless thousands of Blackbirds,
Prairie Chickens, Quail, Upland Plover, Curlew, and other
birds. This coincidence seems significant, at least.
Professor Aughey tells how this slaughter was aceom-
plished. He says that the Blackbirds and many other birds
decreased greatly in Nebraska in the twelve years previous
to 1877. He first went to the State in 1864. He never saw
the Blackbirds so abundant as they were during 1865 over
eastern Nebraska. Vast numbers of them were poisoned
around the corn fields in spring and fall during the twelve
years, so that often they were gathered and thrown into
piles. This was done in the belief that the Blackbirds were
damaging the crops, especially the corn. Great numbers of
birds of other species were destroyed at the same time. A
single grain of corn soaked with strychnine would suffice to
kill a bird. In one autumn, in Dakota County alone, not
less than thirty thousand birds must have been destroyed in
this way. Regarding this slaughter he wrote : —
Supposing that each of these birds averaged eating one hundred and
fifty insects each day, we then have the enormous number of onc hun-
dred and thirty-five million insects saved in this one county in one
month that ought to have been destroyed through the influence of birds.
When we reflect, further, that many of these birds were migratory, and
that they helped to keep down the increase of insects in distant regions,
the harm that their destruction did is beyond calculation. The killing
of such birds is no local loss; it is a national, a continental loss.2
1 Insect Life, by Riley and Howard. 1894, Vol. VI, No. 4, Dace:
* First Report of the United States Entomological Commission. Riley, Pack-
ard, and Thomas. 1877, pp. 343, 344.
fod
76 USEFUL BIRDS.
Professor Aughey gathered statistics regarding the killing
of Quail and Prairie Chickens for the market during this
period, and concluded that in thirty counties the average
yearly slaughter of these birds must have been at least five
thousand Quail and ten thousand Prairie Chickens for each
county, or four hundred and fifty thousand birds in all. We
can only conjecture as to how great was the destruction of
other game birds.
The poisoning of birds in the west permitted an increase
of many other insects besides the locusts. A farmer from
Wisconsin informed me that, the Blackbirds in his vicinity
having been killed off, the white grubs increased in number
and destroyed the grass roots, so that he lost four hundred
dollars in one year from this cause.
THE DESTRUCTION OF INJURIOUS MAMMALS BY BIRDS.
The injury to trees and crops by insects is not the only
evil that has followed the destruction of birds and other
animals by man. Rapacious birds hold a chief place among
the forces which are appointed to hold in check the gnawing
mammals or rodents, which breed rapidly, and, unless kept
within bounds, are very destructive to grass fields, crops, and
trees. The great swarms of lemmings which have appeared
from time to time upon the Scandinavian peninsula are his-
torical. Their migrations, during which they destroy the
grass or grain in their path, until finally they reach the sea
and perish in a vain attempt to cross it, have been recorded
often. A similar increase of rodents may take place any-
where whenever their natural enemies are unduly reduced in
numbers. Such cases are on record in England and Scot-
land. In Stowe’s Chronicle, in 1581, it is stated :—
About Hallontide last past (1580) in the marshes of Danessey Hun-
dred, in a place called South Minster, in the county of Essex, there
sodainlie appeared an infinite number of mice, which overwhelming the
whole earth in the said marshes, did sheare and gnaw the grass by the
rootes, spoyling and tainting the same with their venimous teeth in such
sort, that the cattell which grazed thereon were smitten with a murraine
and died thereof; which vermine by policie of man could not be de-
stroyed, till at the last it came to pass that there flocked together such
vt
TAN “ty
PLATE VI.— Field or Meadow Mouse. A prolific and destructive
species, held in check by Hawks and Owls.
PLATE VII.— White-footed or Deer Mouse.
— ¥:
-
-_
a
Faia %
6 aa , se
Sy — aes
Ee
“ae eS BP
~~
“Py ~-
. &
PLATE X.— The Same Pellets, dissected. The fur is shown in a
pile on the right, and, on the left, portions of skulls and other
bones of mice, shrews, and moles, eaten by the Owls.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 81
Navigators approaching their home port during seasons
of bird migration welcome the appearance of familiar land
birds which are seen while land is still far out of sight. Mr.
Frank M. Chapman has shown, in an interesting paper on
the ornithology of the first voyage of Columbus, that we
possibly owe the discovery of America by Columbus to the
fact that he happened to approach the land at the right time
and place to cross the line of the fall flight of land birds that
were going from the Bermudas to the Bahamas and Antilles.
The discouraged seamen were on the verge of mutiny, and
might have compelled Columbus to return to Spain, had not
small land birds come aboard unwearied and singing. The
course of the vessel was changed to correspond with the
direction of their flight, and the voyage was thus shortened
two hundred miles and pursued to its end.!
The well-known services of Vultures, which destroy gar-
bage and carrion in the tropics, have no real counterpart in
the north. Crows are of some use, but Gulls and other
water-birds are most valuable to man in this respect, in that
they devour the garbage and refuse that are cast into harbors
and arms of the sea, thus undoubtedly preventing the pollu-
tion of many bays and beaches by floating filth and refuse
from great cities.
Sea birds must be reckoned among the chief agencies which
have rendered many rocky or sandy islands fit for human
habitation. The service performed by birds in fertilizing,
soil-building, and seed-sowing on many barren islands has
entitled our feathered friends to the gratitude of many a
shipwrecked sailor, who must else have perished mise ably
on barren, storm-beaten shores.
THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF BIRDS.
In all the foregoing we have considered mainly “the good
offices that birds voluntarily take upon themselves in our
service.” We have yet to take into account the tax which
we impose upon them for our own revenue of profit or
pleasure, —a tax which we collect unsparingly, and with the
strong hand of force.
* Papers presented at the World’s Congress on Ornithology, 1896, pp. 181-185.
82 USEFUL BIRDS.
This tribute of flesh, blood, and feather is levied largely
upon those orders of birds which in domestication become
poultry, and inthe wild state are known as game birds ; but
many small land birds have become victims of man’s greed,
and the sea birds have been forced to contribute to his food
supply.
The eggs of certain Gulls, Terns, Herons, Murres, and
Ducks that breed in large colonies find a ready sale in the
market, or furnish a part of the food supply of the people
who live near these breeding places. Wholesale egging was
carried on along the coast of Massachusetts and other New
dngland States, until the Gulls and Terns were in most cases
driven away from their breeding places. The inhabitants
along the shores of the southern States, as well as those
on the Pacific coast, gathered the eggs of the sea birds by
boatloads for many years. For nearly fifty years Murres’
eggs were collected on the Farallone Islands and shipped
to the San Francisco market. It is said that in 1854 more
than five hundred thousand eggs were sold there in less than
two months. This must have been an important item in the
food supply of the young and growing city. Mr. H. W.
Elliot mentions that on the occasion of his first visit to
Walrus Island in the Behring Sea six men loaded a badarrah,
carrying four tons, to the water’s edge with Murres’ eggs.
On Laysan, one of the Hawaiian Islands, there is a great
breeding place of an Albatross (Diomedea ctmmutabilis).
Such immense quantities of their eggs have been gathered
that cars have been loaded with them.’ All this ege collect-
ing, however, should be stopped, for it tends to exterminate
the birds, and all the eggs needed for human consumption
can be produced by poultry.
Sea birds which breed on isolated islands or barren shores
feed mainly on animal food, which they get from the sea.
Guano consists of the excreta and ejecta of sea birds, mixed
with the remains of birds, fish,and otheranimals. It is found
on the gathering places of these birds. In the rainless lati-
1 A Review of Economic Ornithology in the United States, by Dr. T. S.
Palmer. Yearbook, United States Department of Agriculture, 1899, pp. 271, 272.
See this paper also for an account of the guano trade.
Cnynpouoyy ‘surenqi Ad (¢ -¢ Aq ydersojoygd) ‘s8So YIM popRoy wodq dARIT sted
O1OTTM ‘SpA Bes JO ddBId SUIp9eIq WV “y ‘PT ‘pue[sy ueskeyY uo sassolequy —'‘IX ALV Id
VALUHK OF BIRDS TO MAN. 83
tudes of the Pacific, near the equator, guano once accumulated
in tremendous deposits. It dried quickly, and where there
were no rains to wash it away it was preserved with most of its
fertilizing constituents intact. The guano found on islands
outside the dry latitudes is of less value, as its nitrogen is
quickly washed out or dissipated. The importance of guano
as a fertilizer was recognized in Peru by the Indians more
than three centuries ago. Under the Incas the birds on the
Chincha Islands were carefully protected, and the deposits
of guano jealously guarded. It is said that the penalty of
death was inflicted on any one who killed birds near these
rocks in the breeding season.
Humboldt, returning from his travels in tropical America
in 1804, carried some samples of guano to Europe, and first
called attention to the value of the deposits of this substance
on the Chincha Islands; but it was nearly forty years later
that guano became a stimulus to intensive agriculture, and
furnished a source of revenue to civilized nations. The vast
deposits on these three islands covered the rocks in some
places to a depth of ninety or one hundred feet. The amount
still undisturbed in 1853 was estimated by the official sur-
veyors of the Peruvian government as twelve million, three
hundred and seventy-six thousand, one hundred tons. — Its
use was first attempted in England in 1840; at that time the
beds seemed inexhaustible. The guano trade soon became
so important as to be a source of diplomatic correspondence
between nations. It is said to have brought Peru and Chile
to the verge of war. By 1850 the price of Peruvian guano
had advanced in the United States to fifty dollars a ton, and
American enterprise began to seek guano elsewhere.
Americans have since filed with the government claims
to about seventy-five guano islands in the South Pacific or
in the Caribbean Sea. The vast deposits on the Chinchas
are nearly exhausted, and fertilizers are now manufactured to
supply the demand. Undoubtedly, however, the discovery
and use of guano marked the beginning of the present enor-
mous trade in commercial fertilizers. The manurial value
of the phosphoric acid and nitrogen contained in fish has
now become quite generally recognized, and fleets of small
84 USEFUL BIRDS.
vessels are employed in seining menhaden and other fish for
use in the manufacture of fertilizers.
Notwithstanding the value of birds to man as destroyers
of insects and vermin, they are killed and utilized by him
in various ways.
The destruction of game birds has been so great in Mas-
sachusetts, and the demand so much in excess of the supply,
that birds are now imported from other States and from
other countries. It is becoming a serious question, with
those most interested, how we shall so regulate the shooting
of game birds that the supply may be kept up. The game
birds of America have a great intrinsic value as game. The
flesh of many is considered to rank high among delicacies.
The pursuit of these birds has formed a large part of the
occupation of many members of the rural population during
the shooting seasons, and a vast business has grown out of
the traffic in birds’ flesh. An enormous game business has
been carried on by provision dealers in this country, and the
demand for game is continually increasing. Few accurate
statistics of the amount of game sold are obtainable; but
Mr. D. G. Elliot, writing in 1864, states that one dealer in
New York was known to receive twenty tons of Prairie
Chickens in one consignment, and that some of the larger
poultry dealers were estimated to have sold from one hun-
dred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand game birds
in the course of six months.!
The killing of birds for sport has a certain economic affin-
ity with market hunting, in that it supports a large trade in
guns, ammunition, boats, dogs, and all the tools, appliances,
and impedimenta of the sportsman. It furnishes employment
to guides, dog breakers, and boatmen, and helps support
many country hostelries and seaside hotels. The manufac-
ture of firearms and ammunition for sportsmen has become
a great industry. Altogether, many thousands of men are
dependent for a part of their livelihood on the killing of
game for sport or food, while a still larger army finds its
chief outdoor recreation in the pursuit of game birds. The
1 Report of the United States Commissioner of Agriculture, 1864, pp. 383, 384.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 85
value of game birds to the farmer, epicure, marketman, and
sportsman should insure them the most stringent protection.
Nevertheless, some of the migratory species, through lack
of effectual protection, have already been so reduced in num-
bers that they are no longer of any commercial importance.
The domestication of birds probably was coincident with
that of animals, and grew from the desire of the primitive
agriculturist to have always at hand a fresh supply of deli-
cate and nutritious animal food. No other animals can ever
be so adapted to the environments of civilization as to fur-
nish us with a similarly valuable supply of both meat and
eggs.
The poultry business of this country has grown to such
importance that the total value of the annual poultry prod-
uct has reached nearly three hundred million dollars. Mas-
sachusetts imported probably about eighteen million dollars’
worth of poultry products in 1903. When we consider that
in all the centuries the work of domestication has included
but a few species, it is evident that the possibilities in this
direction have not been exhausted.
Within the last half-century fashion has been responsible
for the killing of millions of birds for the millinery trade.
This trade is now limited by laws making it illegal to kill or
use most native birds, except game birds, for this purpose.
Instances of the destruction of birds for millinery purposes
will be given in another chapter. The American demand
for feathers for ornamental uses is now largely met by
articles manufactured from the feathers of domestic fowls
and game birds. The demand for Ostrich plumes has re-
sulted in the establishment of a new industry in America, —
the raising of Ostriches.
There has been a growing demand for American song birds
for cage purposes; but this traffic is now prohibited by law.
THE ASTHETIC, SENTIMENTAL, AND EDUCATIONAL
VALUE OF BIRDS.
Thus far I have written solely from the standpoint of
“enlightened selfishness,” entertaining no consideration of
the esthetic, humane, sentimental, or educational. I have
86 USEFUL BIRDS.
attempted to look at birds solely from the utilitarian point
of view, and to demonstrate the fact that their contributions
to man’s welfare have at least a material value. Now let us
turn for a moment from the contemplation of such utility
of birds as money can measure to “some of the higher and
nobler uses which birds subserve to man.” In so doing we
step at once from the beaten path of economic ornithology
into a boundless realm, sacred to art, letters, sentiment,
and poetry on the one hand, while on the other lie the fair
fields in which we may take up, if we will, the fascinating
study of birds, which may end merely in delightful experi-
ences, or lead to the class room, the museum, the laboratory,
or the closet of the systematist. Wherever it may lead us,
this phase of our subject is of the highest importance, and
demands the most serious consideration. Although presented
last, its benefactions should perhaps come first among the
items which go to make up the sum of our indebtedness to
birds.
The beauty of birds, the music of their songs, the weird
wildness of their calls, the majesty of their soaring flight,
the mystery of their migrations, have ever been subjects of
absorbing interest to poets, artists, and nature lovers every-
where. Prominent among the undying memories of men
are mental pictures of the birds of childhood, their coming
in the spring, their nesting, and their chosen haunts. Many
an exiled emigrant longs in vain to hear again the outpour-
ing melody of the Skylark, as it soars above the fields of
England. Many a New England boy, shut in by western
mountains, yearns for the bubbling, joyous song of the Bob-
olink in the June meadows. ‘The characters and traits of
birds, their loves and battles, their skill in home building,
all
are of human interest. Birds have become symbolic of cer-
their devotion to their young, their habits and ways,
tain human characteristics ; and so the common species have
come to be so interwoven with our art and literature that
their names are household words. What biblical scholar is
not familiar with the birds of the Bible? Shakespeare makes
over six hundred references to birds or bird life. Much of
the best literature would lose half its charm were it shorn of
poetic allusions to birds.
VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 37
Birds often have inspired the poets. Bryant’s lines “ To
a Water-fowl,” and Shelley’s “ Skylark,” each exhibit a phase
of such inspiration. These are but instances of the stimu-
lating power exerted on the mind of man by the bird and
its associations. Some of the grandest poems ever written
have been dependent on their authors’ observation of birds
for some touch of nature which has helped to render them
immortal. Thus Gray, in his famed “Elegy written in a
Country Churchyard ” ; —
The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,
The Swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
The Cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.
Who, reared in a country home, can fail, as he reads
these lines, to recall the twittering of the Swallows under
the spreading rafters in the cool of early morning? The
mental contemplation of that peaceful pastoral scene, the
train of tender recollections of the time of youth and inno-
cence, all tending toward better impulses and higher aspira-
tions, are largely due to the mention of the familiar bird in
its association with the home of childhood. Is not literature
the richer for the following lines of Longfellow in his “ Birds
of Passage ”?
Above, in the light
Of the star-lit night,
Swift birds of passage wing their flight
Through the dewy atmosphere.
I hear the beat
Of their pinions fleet,
As from the land of snow and sleet
They seek a southern lea.
How much of life and color the presence of birds adds to
the landscape! The artist appreciates this. What marine
view is complete without its Gulls in flight? How much a
flock of wild-fowl adds to a lake or river scene !
Birds are a special boon to child life, and a never-ending
source of entertainment to many children who live upon
isolated farms, where the observation of birds’ habits adds
greatly to the rational enjoyment of existence.
It is not a far ery from the poet to the philosopher, and
88 USEFUL BIRDS.
he also sees a value in birds for the opportunity they afford
for the culture of the intellect. Every page of the book of
nature is educational. But, as Dr. Coues says, there is no
fairer or more fascinating page than that devoted to the life
history of a bird. The systematic study of birds develops
both the observational faculties and the analytical qualities
of the mind. The study of the living bird afield is rejuve-
nating to both mind and body. The outdoor use of eye, ear,
and limb, necessitated by field work, tends to fit both the
body and mind of the student for the practical work of life,
for it develops both members and faculties. It brings one
into contact with nature, — out into the sunlight, where balmy
airs stir the whispering pines, or fresh breezes ripple the blue
water. There is no purer joy in life than that which may
come to all who, rising in the dusk of early morning, wel-
come the approach of day with all its bird voices. The nature
lover who listens to the song of the Wood Thrush at dawn
an anthem of calm, serene, spiritual joy, sounding through
the dim woods —hears it with feelings akin to those of the
devotee whose being is thrilled by the grand and sacred music
of the sanctuary. And he who, in the still forest at even-
ing, harkens to the exquisite notes of the Hermit, — that
voice of nature, expressing in sweet cadences her pathos and
her ineffable mystery, — experiences amid the falling shades
of night emotions which must humble, chasten, and purify
even the most upright and virtuous of men.
The uplifting influence that birds may thus exert upon the
lives of men constitutes to many their greatest value and
charm. itil
Moth No. 2, ; ; 22 eMothe Noma] aeee : 5 Altai0
Moth No. 3, : ‘ 27 seo the Non ss" ; a — i)
Moth Nox 45.5) + : 5 S42 |e viothe No: 14S, 2 5 laa
Moth No. 5, : : = 23) loth sNionslD: 5 z 5 etl
Moth No. 6, : ; 2 35 eMoiheNomaliGe ‘ ; 2A?
Moth No. 7, : : - 40) >| MiothANo. Az. *.. F « AAS
Moth No. 8, ‘ : 22 One \VlotheNorels: : : 5 oll
Moth No. 9, : ; > 2007) Moth Nos 19), 5 , - 192
Moth No. 10, : ‘ . 130 | Moth No. 20, ; : memanlog
It will be seen from this table that the average number of
egos found in the ovaries of each moth was one hundred and
eighty-five. Mr. Bailey was very positive, from his contin-
uous field observations, that each Chickadee would devour on
the average thirty female cankerworm moths per day from
the 20th of March to the 15th of April, whenever these in-
sects were plentiful. If the average number of eggs laid
by each female is one hundred and eighty-five, one Chick-
adee would thus destroy in one day five thousand, five hun-
dred and fifty eggs; and in the twenty-five days in which
the cankerworm moths “run” or crawl up the trees, one
hundred and thirty-eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty.
It is probable that some of the moths were not captured
until they had laid some of their eggs, but the Chickadees
found and ate most of these eggs also. When we consider,
further, that forty-one of these insects, distended as they
were with eggs, were found packed within the stomach of
one Chickadee, and that the digestion of the bird is so rapid
that its stomach was probably filled many times daily, the
estimate made by Mr. Bailey seems a very conservative one.
As the frost left the ground on the first warm days of
spring the wingless females of the spring cankerworm moth
appeared in the orchard and began ascending the trees in
great numbers. The Chickadees Commenced catching these
insects and eating them and their eggs. Mr. Bailey placed
twenty-two of the females on one tree, and in a few minutes
twenty of them were captured and eaten by Chickadees. As
a practical result of the presence of the Chickadee in that
orchard during the winter, there were so few eggs of the
cankerworm moths left in the spring that, as heretofore
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 171
stated, the summer birds were able to destroy the worms
resulting from them.
In early spring Chickadees feed much upon the ground in
the woods. At such times I have seen them opening soft-
ened acorns, that have lain all winter beneath the snow, and
extracting grubs from them.
The Chickadee is not known to have any harmful habits.
Wilson says that it has been known to attack and injure its
own kind, but he gives no positive evidence of this, and I
ean find no record of this habit elsewhere. Their fondness
for animal food leads them sometimes to eat the bodies of
other birds that have been stuck on thorns by the Butcher
Bird, or to feed from the carcass of any fox or other animal
left hanging in the woods by trappers. This habit probably
accounts for the fact that feathers or hair are sometimes found
in their stomachs.
One mild day in the winter of 1903-04 Mr. Mosher saw
two Chickadees catching a few bees that had come out of a
hive and were becoming benumbed by the cold. This was
a particularly hard winter, during which many birds died of
starvation and exposure, and the birds were doing no harm,
as the bees, once away from the hive, would never have been
able to return to its shelter. The Chickadee is not known
to injure grain or cultivated fruit. Occasionally it pecks ¢
frozen apple left hanging on the tree in winter, but I can
find no record of its having injured fruit at any other time.
It would be hard to find a bird more harmless or more useful
than this species.
White-breasted Nuthatch.
Silta carolinensis.
Length. — About six inches.
Adult. — Upper parts a rather light bluish-gray ; crown, nape of neck, and upper
back black ; wings and tail marked somewhat with black and white; lower
parts and sides of head mainly white.
Nest.— In an old post or an excavation in a tree trunk, which is sometimes liol-
lowed out by the birds.
Eggs.— Much like those of the Chickadee, but larger.
Season. — Resident.
Most writers regard this common and familiar species as
a bird of the forest; but in eastern Massachusetts it has
172 USHFUL BIRDS.
become a frequenter of orchard and shade trees, and is com-
monly seen along village streets in fall, winter, spring, and
sometimes even in midsummer, although comparatively few
breed in the State. In
the fall it may be seen
here and there in the
woods or orchards, often
in company with Chick-
adees and other tree
gleaners. In winter
this species is almost
Fig. 54.— White-breasted Nuthatch, two-thirds always engaged during
natural size. : sett
daylight in a diligent
search over the trunks and larger limbs of trees, particularly
on the rough bark of the larger trunks, where it finds a
ereat part of its insect food. In one instance, where a
workman had pared off most of the outer bark from a large
oak, two of these Nuthatches were seen busily engaged for
two days in searching and delving among the pile of bark
chips left on the ground.
This Nuthatch is the particular guardian of the deciduous
trees, preferring the oak, chestnut, elm, and other hard-wood
trees to the pine. It also frequents old orchards, where the
rough bark affords concealment for many injurious insects,
and offers a good foothold. It is a cheerful bird, and often
manifests much curiosity. It will sometimes come quite
near any one who attracts its attention, and, hanging head
downward on trunk or limb, utter its nasal qguank, quank,
a peculiar, weird sound, somewhat like the quack of a
duck, but higher keyed and with less volume, having rather
a musical twang.
No other native birds are so often seen upside down as are
the Nuthatches. Audubon and Wilson both say that these
birds sleep in this position. In winter the White-breast
passes the night in some cleft or hollow ina tree trunk.
Dr. G. V. Harvey of California says that one evening he
saw twenty-nine White-breasted Nuthatches come singly to
an old, dead, yellow pine, alight upon a knot, and vanish into
a large crack in the trunk. They came at quite regular in-
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 173
tervals, one after another, and evidently used the cavity as
a lodging place, for that night at least.
Even the Woodpeckers, supplied as they are with a re-
versed toe and a stiff, supporting tail, cannot compete with
the Nuthatches in descending head first. The Woodpecker
when going down the trunk finds itself in the same pre-
dicament as the bear, —its climbing tools work only one
way. It is dependent on its stiff tail for support, and so
must needs hop down backwards. The Creeper is still more
hide-bound in its habits, and its motto seems to be “ Excel-
sior.” It begins at the foot of its ladder and climbs ever
upward. But the climbing ability of the Nuthatch is unlim-
ited. It circles round the branches, or moves up, down,
and around the trunks, apparently oblivious to the law of
gravitation. Its readiness in descending topsy-turvy is due
in part to the fact that, as the
quilis of its tail are not stiff
SSS
enough to afford support, it
is obliged to depend upon its
legs and feet. As it has on
each foot three toes in front
and only one behind, it re-
verses the position of one
foot in going head downward,
throwing it out sidewise and
backward, so that the three
long claws on the three front
toes grip the bark and keep
Fig. 55.— Nuthatches.
the bird from falling forward.
The other foot is thrown forward, and thus with feet far
apart the “little gymnast has a wide base beneath him.” In
the third volume of Reed’s American Ornithology Rev. Lean-
der S. Keyser describes and illustrates this manner of pro-
gression. The Nuthatch not only straddles in going down
the tree, but spreads its legs widely in going round the trunk,
as will be seen by the accompanying cut, sketched from life
in 1895. Mr. William Brewster has photographed the Red-
breasted Nuthatch in similar positions, but bird artists gen-
* Reed’s American Ornithology, Vol. 2, 1902, p. 171.
174 USEFUL BIRDS.
erally seem to have overlooked this habit. The slightly
upturned bill of the Nuthatch, and its habit of hanging up-
side down, give it an advantage when in the act of prying
off scales of bark under which many noxious insects are
secreted.
The food of this bird consists very largely of insects, al-
though it is capable of subsisting on seeds, for it has a strong
muscular gizzard, and consumes much sand or gravel for
grinding its food. In winter, when it is difficult to find sufhi-
cient insect food, the Nuthatch feeds in part on such seeds as
it can pick up. Oats and corn are then eaten wherever they
can be found.
Prof. EK. Dwight Sanderson, who examined thirty-four
stomachs of this species taken in Michigan, found many
seeds, among them ragweed and wild sunflowers. The birds
had eaten seeds in winter to the amount of sixty-seven and
four-tenths per cent. of the stomach contents, while the re-
mainder consisted of gravel and insects ; but in early spring
only thirteen and five-tenths per cent. of the food was of a
vegetable nature, while seventy-nine and five-tenths per cent.
consisted of insects. He found Presma cineria the most
common noxious insect in these stomachs. This insect, as he
remarks, “never does any considerable injury.” Its frequent
presence in the stomach of the Nuthatch may possibly explain
why it is not more injurious. Although seven orders of
insects were represented in these stomachs, Professor Sander-
son regards the birds as neutral, for no first-class pests were
recognized, and many beneficial and neutral insects were
found; but we have seen that the destruction of parasitic
or predaceous insects by birds is not necessarily or always
an injurious habit; in Massachusetts several pests are eaten
by the Nuthatch, and we have not yet recognized in their
stomachs any large proportion of beneficial insects. This
suggests the possibility that the conditions in Michigan, when
the examinations were made by Professor Sanderson, were
unusual. He notes that he was unable to obtain a specimen
from any orchard infested with insect pests.?
1 The Economic Value of the White-bellied Nuthatch and the Black-capped
Chickadee, by E. Dwight Sanderson. The Auk, Vol. XV., 1898, pp. 145-150.
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 175
Professor King in Wisconsin found beetles, including
snap beetles and boring beetles, in the stomachs of fourteen
birds of the species. In Massachusetts it feeds largely on
beetles, taking many that bore in the bark or wood. It also
feeds on the eges of insects, and on hibernating larvee and
ants. Scale insects are taken
in winter. The oyster-shell
bark scale louse (Lepédosa-
phes ult), injurious to the
apple, pear, currant, and
other useful plants and trees,
is eaten greedily. The pro-
portion of insect food in-
creases as spring advances,
and the young are fed largely
if not entirely on insects.
On Nov. 26, 1897, Mr. Kirk- Fig. 56.— Wood-boring beetle, much en-
larged. Nuthatches eat such beetles.
land examined the stomach
of one of these birds, which contained one thousand, six
hundred and twenty-nine eggs of the fall eankerworm moth.
As there were no moth remains, it was evident that the bird
had gathered these eges from the bark.
One day Mr. Bailey watched a pair of these Nuthatches
in Brookline. The birds went regularly from tree to. tree,
searching beneath the burlap bands for gipsy caterpillars,
which for several hours they carried continually and fed to
their full-fledged young. The young birds also found and
killed afew. The preference shown by these particular birds
for the hairy gipsy caterpillars at this place seems remark-
able, as there were comparatively few of these larve to be
found there at the time.
This Nuthatch has been seen to eat cankerworms, forest
caterpillars, and plant lice, and there is no doubt that ordi-
narily it is a valuable species while here.
176 USEFUL BIRDS.
Red-breasted Nuthatch. Canada Nuthatch.
Sitta canadensis.
Length.— Four and one-half to nearly five inches.
Adult Male.— Above, deep, bright bluish-gray; chin and throat whitish ; other
lower parts rusty or deep buff; tail feathers marked with black and white ;
a white stripe above the eye, a broad black stripe through the eye, anda
black crown.
Adult Female. — Similar, but duller; the eye stripe dusky, and the crown lighter
than that of the male.
Nest and Eggs. — Much like those of the Chickadee.
Season. — Resident, but local in the breeding season.
This dainty little bird is considered rare in Massachusetts
in the breeding season. While a few nest in suitable local-
ities, the great majority retire to the northern wilderness
in summer. From Octo-
ber to April, however, it is
quite common in this State
during some seasons. It per-
forms for the pines a similar
service to that rendered by its
larger relative among the decid-
uous trees. It is almost constantly
found in pine woods, and seems par-
rane e eaebeee Veer ticularly fond of the pitch pine (Pinus
Nuthatch, one-half natural rig wa) .
size.
The common notes of the bird are
not unlike those of the White-breasted Nuthatch, but higher,
sharper, and quicker. It has also a musical varied twitter,
not mentioned in books, so far as I know, which can be heard
but a few feet away.
It runs about much in the manner of the White-breasted
Nuthatch, but is perhaps oftener seen beneath a limb. It
sometimes feeds nearer the ends of the branches in winter,
perhaps because it more commonly extracts the seeds from
pine cones. It picks up corn wherever it can be found in
winter, and I have watched it hiding the kernels behind
scales of bark on the pitch pine, —a habit common to both
Nuthatches and Titmice. A large majority of these birds
go farther south than Massachusetts in winter, but many re-
main wherever they can find pine seed, suitable insect food,
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. Cts
and safe shelter. They are seen more in woods and less
about orchards than is the preceding species, and, though
probably very useful in the pine woods, they are not of so
much value in orchards, unless attracted there by artificial
means.
CREEPERS.
This family of bark-climbing specialists has but one rep-
resentative in Massachusetts. The Creepers climb upward
and fly downward.
American Brown Creeper.
Certhia familiaris americana.
Length. — About five and one-third inches.
Adult. —Sepia-brown above, varying in intensity, finely marked with whitish ;
under parts white.
Nest. — Usually built behind some loose flake of bark or in a cleft in a tree trunk.
Eggs.— Grayish-white, nearly oval, and sparingly sprinkled with brown spots,
chiefly at larger end.
Season. — Resident, but local in summer.
This is a modest, quiet, and unobtrusive species. Its
curved bill and long, rigid tail distinguish it from all other
birds. It is quite common in Massachusetts in fall and
spring, less so in winter, and rather rare in sum-
mer. Most individuals of this species that do not
go farther north to breed retire in spring to
dark, cool cedar swamps, where they nest.
The usual note of this bird is a thin
screep, suggesting that of the Golden-
crowned Kinglet, often repeated twice
or more. ° It has also a fine chip, and
in summer a sweet, wild, indescribable
song. The Creeper is pre-eminently
a bird of the forest. Everywhere in
ereat tracts of woods it may be found
i Fig. 58. — Brown Creeper,
natural size.
laboring day after day to surmount one
giant trunk after another, only to fly
down to the foot of still another, that it may climb again.
In the tall, dark forests of fir, pine, and cedar on the Pacitic
slope of the Cascade Mountains the Creeper’s chirp is one
of the few characteristic bird notes that come down to the
178 USHFUL BIRDS.
wanderer from the dizzy heights of those towering trunks.
In the pine woods of New England or Canada the Creeper
ever goes its ceaseless rounds. It is a guardian of the
tree trunk. It is not very often seen among the branches,
although it sometimes feeds on the seed of the pine.
The Creeper feeds very largely on insects, which it finds
on the bark or extracts from the cracks and crevices with its
long, sharp bill. I have often tried to determine by obser-
ration the food of this bird, but can only say that it seems
to find boring grubs and the pup and eggs of insects.
In this quest it examines a large number of trees daily. Mr.
Bailey spent an hour watching one of these birds on March 30,
1899. It inspected forty-three trees, beginning about two
feet from the ground, or at just about the height to which
the ground-frequenting birds would reach. Thirty-six trees
were white oak and seven white pine. It went up each tree
about twenty feet, going round and round the trunk, then
flew to another. It appeared to prefer the white oak to any
other tree, probably because the oaks in that locality were
infested with numerous insects. It progressed in this man-
ner about one hundred yards within the hour. At night a
Creeper, probably the same bird, was still in the near-by
woods. We have little accurate knowledge of the food of
this bird. The only precise determination of its food that
has come to my notice is recorded by Dr. Judd in Maryland.
The stomach contained such beetles as //elops acreus and
Bruchus hibisci; also sawflies, ants, spiders, and seeds of
scrub pine.
THRASHERS AND MOCKINGBIRDS.
This group is represented here by the Thrasher and Cat-
bird. Both are birds of the thicket, and are found habitu-
ally in sprout growth or young coppice, and in shrubbery
on the borders of woods. They feed largely on or near the
ground and in shrubbery, but often make excursions into
woods, pastures, fields, or gardens.
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. GS,
Brown Thrasher. Brown Thrush. Red Mavis. Planting Bird.
Toxostoma rufum.
Length. — Nearly eleven and one-half inches.
Adult. — Reddish-brown above, with white wing bars; below, mainly white;
breast, belly, and sides of throat streaked or spotted with blackish.
Nest. — Loosely built of twigs, etc., on the ground or ina brush pile or low bush.
Eggs.— As large as the Robin’s; white or greenish, thickly spotted with light
reddish-brown.
Season. — April to October.
This bird may be distinguished from the true Thrushes by
its large size, long tail, and long, curved beak. It arrives in
Massachusetts the latter part of April, and leaves for the south
in October. Its rich, bold, and varied song may be heard
along the borders of woodland, in coppice growth, or from
some tall tree about the farmyard or pasture.
The song was first brought prominently to my attention
when as a barefoot boy of ten I was dropping corn in the field
at planting time. The Thrasher sat in a tree near the corn-
field, its swelling throat pouring forth a flood of music on
the warm May wind. Just over the wall in the adjoining
field a dusty plowman stopped his team. “There, boy,” he
said, “that is the Planting Bird. Some folks call it the Red
Mavis. Hear him sing, ‘ Drop it, drop it, drop it; cover it
up, cover it up, cover it up; Ill pull it up, I'l] pull it up.’”
Both words and song made so strong an impression on my
youthful mind that they have never been effaced from my
memory. Later we found that the Thrasher had kept his
promise, and pulled up some of the corn that we had planted.
This is the only really harmful habit of this bird, and this
seems to be more local than general; for, while it pulls a
little corn on some farms, there is no complaint from it else-
where. Thoreau reports a similar phrasing of the Thrasher’s
song, but omits every reference to the bird as a corn puller,
giving the last part of the song as “Pull it up.” He also
mentions the common name Mavis, by which I think the bird is
now known only among the older people. This name is prob-
ably of European origin, and came down to us from the early
settlers; but the bird is still known among farmers in some
sections of the State as the Planting Bird or Brown Thrush.
180 USEFUL BIRDS.
Its alarm note is a loud smack or chick, very incisive, and
frequently followed by a mournful whistle. Tt also makes a
hissing or wheezing sound, which is often heard when it is
defending its young.
Fig. 59.— Brown Thrasher, one-half natural size.
The Brown Thrasher feeds largely on insects. As it
usually retires during the breeding season to serubby lands
or sprout growth near woodland, it takes very little culti-
vated fruit, and the small amount of corn it consumes is
usually more than made up for by the white grubs taken from
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 181
woodland, cornfield, and garden. Dr. Judd gives a sum-
mary of the results of an examination of the stomachs of one
hundred and twenty-one of this species ; thirty-six per cent.
of the food was vegetable, and sixty-four per cent. was ani-
mal, which was practically all insects, mostly taken in spring,
when no fruit was ripe. Half the insects were beetles,
mainly harmful species. The remaining animal food was
chiefly grasshoppers, caterpillars, bugs, and spiders.
The Brown Thrasher more than repays us for the cultivated
fruit that it eats by the number of insect pests that it con-
sumes earlier in the season. While it eats considerable wild
fruit and some that is useful to man, it probably pays for
this by destroying many of the disgusting bugs that cat
berries. As the Thrasher feeds much on the ground, it
destroys many grasshoppers, crickets, white grubs, and May
beetles. Professor Forbes states that in IHlinois nearly half
the food of this bird consists of waste grain picked from
the droppings on the roads. He also asserts that it eats
cultivated fruit in less proportion than do other Thrushes.
There, as here, June beetles form a considerable per cent. of
its food, and it eats both snap beetles and curculios. The
Thrasher eats caterpillars, but mainly such species as are
found on the ground. It picks up cutworms, cankerworms,
and some gipsy moth caterpillars, but is not usually fond of
hairy caterpillars. On the whole, it is a bird that should be
protected by the farmer.
Catbird.
Galeoscoples carolinensis.
Length. — About nine inches.
Adult. — Both upper and under parts dark gray; top of head and tail blackish ;
under tail coverts chestnut.
Nest. —Composed of sticks and twigs, bark and rootlets, placed in a bush or
vine.
Eggs.— Dark, glossy, greenish-blue.
Season. — May to October.
The Catbird is very common in this State. Its voluble
manner, cat-like ery, musical song, habits of mimicry, and
bravery in defence of its young are all too well known
to need description. As an imitator, it is second only to
the Mockingbird. I have heard the ery of the Bob-white or
182 USEFUL BIRDS.
Quail and some of the notes of the Wood Thrush, together
with those of many other birds, given by the Catbird. It
may not be generally known that this bird, like many other
species, often sings in a very low tone when it believes that
danger is near. In October it sometimes repeats its spring
Fig. 60.—Catbird, one-half natural size.
song so softly that it seems to come from far away when
uttered within a few feet of the hearer. The bird’s moods
are many. It is in turn a merry jester, a fine musician, a
mocking sprite, and a screaming termagant, but always an
interesting study, and never prosaic or mediocre.
No doubt the Catbird is useful, as it fills, in moist thickets,
a place similar to that taken by its relative the Thrasher on
the drier lands. Unfortunately, however, the poor bird has
acquired a bad reputation. It is accused of sucking the eggs
of other birds and destroying much fruit. The first charge
must be dismissed as not proven, but the second is sustained
by good evidence. Dr. Judd reports on the examination of
two hundred and thirteen stomachs, from Florida to Kansas
and Massachusetts. He finds that three per cent. of the food
consists of carnivorous wasps and bees; spiders are also
eaten; but the destruction of useful insects is more than
made up for by the number of weevils, plant-feeding bugs,
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 183
May beetles, and other injurious species taken. The de-
struction of the ground beetles eaten by the Catbird is prob-
ably at the worst a necessary evil. It eats many caterpillars,
including cutworms, also grasshoppers and crickets. Ants
and crane flies formed a large proportion of the insect food of
some Catbirds dissected by Professor Forbes, who says, how-
ever, that in midsummer the Catbird subsists mainly on fruit,
and only takes such insects as come its way. Young Cat-
birds while in the nest are fed very largely on insect food.
Dr. Weed examined the stomach contents of three nestling
Catbirds in Michigan, and found that ninety-five per cent.
of the food consisted of insects, two per cent. of spiders,
and three per cent. of myriapods. Sixty-two per cent. of
this food was composed of cutworms, eleven per cent. of
ground beetles, four per cent. of grasshoppers, three per
cent. of May flies and two per cent. of dragon flies. Dr.
Judd also found that the nestlings were fed almost entirely
on insects. All these statements go to prove the value of
the Catbird on the farm.
On the other hand, the adult Catbird often lives so largely
on cultivated fruit in midsummer that were its numbers
greatly increased it might become an unbearable pest to the
fruit grower. Its destructiveness to small fruits varies, how-
ever, in different localities. Sometimes the Catbird will
leave its favorite thickets and build its nest in the raspberry
or blackberry bushes, or among the grapevines in the garden.
A pair of these birds that oecupied a nest in our garden at
Worcester where they were surrounded by fruit did no injury
compared with that inflicted by a pair of Catbirds that nested
in the shrubbery near our garden at Wareham. There I
found that the Catbirds came to the garden mainly for straw-
berries. They chose the best fruit, and seemed to live on
that alone during the strawberry season. The Catbirds ate
more fruit than the Robins, although the latter were far more
numerous, and, as is usually the case, were blamed at first
for the loss of all the fruit.
While the Catbird is often a pest to the fruit garden, eat-
ing, as it does, most small fruits, it is so useful in case of
insect outbreaks that it deserves protection. Five Catbirds
184 USEFUL BIRDS.
dissected by Professor Aughey during a locust irruption had
eaten one hundred and fifty-two locusts. When injurious
caterpillars are numerous, the Catbird attacks them. Its
name appears in the list of birds which feed on brown-tail
and gipsy caterpillars, cankerworms, forest caterpillars, and
tent caterpillars. It also feeds its young on the hairy cater-
pillars of the gipsy moth and the brown-tail moth, and on
many of the imagoes as well as those of native noctuids.
I have frequently observed this habit. A Catbird used to
come to my window early in the morning to get the cut-
worm moths that had flown against the screen in the night.
Mr. F. H. Mosher watched two pairs of Catbirds and their
young in 1895, and found that the young were fed very
largely on gipsy caterpillars. He says : —
The Catbird when feeding is most busy in the morning until about
8.40. From that time she comes occasionally until from 3 to 4 o’clock,
when she is more active again. In the morning she would come and
eat two or three herself, and then carry one to her young. She would
be absent about five minutes. After she had made two or three trips
she would not stop to eat any herself. In the afternoon, during her
period of greatest activity, she would make trips about every ten minutes.
She seemed to prefer larvze to pupze, but when hard pressed would take
pupe. The size of the larvze seemed to make no difference to her, as
she took the full-grown just as readily as the small.
Mr. Mosher thought in 1895 that the Catbird was, next to
the Cuckoos and Orioles, the most important enemy of the
gipsy moth. These three species alone would be enough,
if in sufficient numbers, to check this insect in the localities
which they frequent. The Catbird forages mainly on the
ground and in shrubbery, but seldom in trees. The Cuckoos
feed mainly among the lower branches, while the Orioles go
up even to the topmost twigs.
From the evidence at hand we must conclude that, though
the Catbird is sometimes a nuisance to the fruit grower, it
must be tolerated and even encouraged for the good it does.
The problem before us is not how to destroy the birds, but
how to keep both birds and fruit.
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 185
WARBLERS.
Of the twenty-five species and two sub-species of War-
blers that may be confidently looked for each spring in
Massachusetts, either as migrants or residents, only eight
are generally distributed throughout the State in the breed-
ing season, and two of these are rather local. Several other
species breed here, but only locally or rarely. Only the
more common familiar summer resident species, which are
of great economic importance, will be mentioned here. The
migrants are of great though lesser importance. Their
abundance in migration is probably governed largely by
the number of insects to be found upon the trees. When-
ever large numbers of Warblers are seen here in migration,
their presence may be taken as an indication of a plenti-
ful supply of the arboreal insects on which chiefly they
feed. The fact that Warblers live mostly on small insects
does not lessen their usefulness, —it may even make them
more valuable. Warblers are undoubtedly responsible for
the destruction of many of the young caterpillars of the
great cecropia, promethea, and luna moths, which, while
still too small to do any harm, are killed off by birds. It
should be noted also that many of the greatest pests are very
small even at maturity. The onion fly, the Hessian fly, the
wheat midge, and many injurious Lepidoptera and Cole-
optera are among the tiny insects that are eaten by small
birds. Only the smaller birds can follow insects to the tips
of the slenderest twigs; therefore, the smaller the bird the
greater its special usefulness.
We have already seen that Warblers have a great capacity
for destroying small insects. In migration they seem to
possess most remarkable appetites. Rev. Leander 8. Keyser
watched a Hooded Warbler, and found that it caught on the
average two insects a minute, or one hundred and twenty an
hour. He estimates that at this rate the bird would kill at
least nine hundred and sixty insects a day, assuming that it
sought them but eight hours.!
1 Papers presented at the World’s Congress on Ornithology, 1896, pp. 41, 42.
186 USEFUL BIRDS.
Mr. Robert H. Coleman, in a letter to the Biological Sur-
vey, stated, according to Dr. Judd, that he counted the
number of insects eaten by a Palm Warbler, and found that
it varied from forty to sixty per minute. The bird, he
said, spent at least four hours on his piazza, and in that time
must have eaten about nine thousand, five hundred insects.
I have seen Warblers eating from masses of small insects
at such a rate that it was impossible for me to count the
number of insects eaten. When larger insects are taken,
the time given to each increases. The bird will sometimes
spend at least ten minutes in the attempt to swallow a
large caterpillar. It is difficult, therefore, to approximate the
number of insects eaten by a Warbler in a day, except where
it is feeding mainly on a particular species.
In this family we find birds that assume the care of the
trees from the ground to the topmost twig. Some walk
daintily along the ground, searching among the shrubbery
and fallen leaves ; others cling close to the bark, and search
its every crevice for those insignificant insects which collect-
ively form the greatest pests of forest and orchard ; others
mount into the tree, skip from branch to branch, and peer
about among the leaves or search the opening buds of the
lower branches; others habitually ascend to the tree tops;
while still others are in almost constant pursuit of the winged
insects that dart about among the branches. We will first
consider the common ground-frequenting species.
Northern Yellow-throat. Maryland Yellow-throat.
Geothlypis trichas brachidaclyla.
Length.— About five and one-quarter inches.
Adult Male.— Upper parts olive-green ; forehead and mask black, bordered above
by ashy-gray ; under parts mainly bright yellow.
Adult Female.— Like the male, but without the black or ashy ; under parts paler.
Nest. — On or near the ground, supported by grass stems, leafy plants, or shrubs;
deep, and composed mainly of leayes and grasses; sometimes roofed, and
not infrequently hair-lined.
Eggs.— White, spotted with brown and lilac at the larger end.
Season. — May to October.
This Yellow-throat is a bird of the brookside and swampy
thicket ; but it is not by any means confined to these locali-
ties, for it is found in the fruit garden and orchard as well as
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 187
in the woods. While it feeds somewhat in trees, its habit,
like that of other Warblers of the genus, is to keep near the
ground and in shrubbery ; hence it is often seen along bushy
roadsides, particularly where the road crosses a swamp or
stream. It usually keeps close to the underbrush, peering
out from between leaves and stems,
and occasionally taking short flights
near the ground.
It greets all comers with a sharp
chirp, or voices its alarm in a rat-
tling, Wren-like chatter. In singing
it sometimes mounts to a high perch
J Fig. 61.— Northern Yellow-
In a tree or rises in air, but ordinarily throat, two-thirds natural
size,
delivers its song while pursuing its
usual avocations among the shrubbery. The song is a
series of phrases, with the accent on the first syllable, thus,
sich'-a-wiggle, sich'-a-wiggle, sich'-a-wiggle, or in some cases
witchery, witchery, witchery. It is much varied in length
and expression, but usually may be known by the repeti-
tion of the strongly accented syllable. Like many other
Warblers, this bird has three or more variations to its strain,
but with perhaps one exception they are all unmistakable.
The Yellow-throat usually arrives at its chosen haunts in
Massachusetts early in May. It often lays two sets of eggs,
and two broods are sometimes reared. In the fall flights
the birds may be seen from time to time as they stop on
their journey southward. One day you will find scarcely
one; the next, the brooksides and river banks may be alive
with them. This bird is undoubtedly among the most use-
ful species which in summer frequent our shrubbery, wood-
lands, orchards, roadsides, and bushy pastures. In pastures
the Yellow-throat eats many leaf hoppers, which are abun-
dant among the grass and low-growing herbage that it fre-
quents. Prof. Herbert Osborn has shown that on an acre of
pasture land there frequently exist a million leaf hoppers,
which consume, perhaps unnoticed, as much grass. as a cow,
if not more. The Yellow-throat, on account of its destruc-
tion of leaf hoppers and grasshoppers, may be ranked among
the useful birds of the fields. In orchards it often feeds very
188 USEFUL BIRDS.
largely on cankerworms, going long distances from its nest
to get these caterpillars to feed to its young. Since one of
these birds was seen to eat fifty-two caterpillars of the gipsy
moth in a few minutes, it seems probable that it may yet be
ranked among the efficient enemies of this pest. Case bear-
ers, leaf rollers, and many other destructive caterpillars are
ereedily devoured, and it also catches and eats both butter-
flies and moths in considerable numbers.
Along the borders of woods it is very destructive to many
beetles, flies, and especially to plant lice, of some species
of which it is very fond. It often goes to grain fields,
where, so Wilson says, it eats insects that infest them.
Oven-bird. Golden-crowned Thrush. “ Teacher Bird.”
Seirus aurocapilus.
Length.— Six to six and one-half inches.
Adult. — Olive-brown above; crown dull orange or yellowish-buff, bordered by
black stripes; white below; breast and sides streaked with blackish.
Nest.—On the ground in woods, often on knoll or hillside; generally roofed,
with entrance on lower side; usually made of sticks, rootlets, leaves, etc.,
and lined with hairs; that from which the accompanying cut was made
was built entirely of pine leaves or ‘‘ needles.”
Egqgs.— Creamy white, spotted with brown and faint lilac.
Season. — May to September.
How well I still recall that panorama of the dim woods
that passed before my eyes when as a child of eight years I
first began to wander off at daybreak to learn the secrets of
nature. As I first stole through the shadows down the
back of “ Muddy Pond Hill,” where the “cotton-tail rabbit”
bounded away before me, where the “ Partridge ” burst into
thunderous flight amid a whirl of scattered leaves, and
dashed away through bending twigs and swaying branches,
every sight and sound impressed itself vividly upon my
youthful mind, but none made a more lasting impression
than the song of the Oven-bird. To me the bird then
seemed to say chich’, KERcHICK’, KERCHICK’, repeating
its single phrase an indefinite number of times, while the
silent woods, acting as a sounding board, rang and rever-
berated with the crescendo strain. Later, when I lingered
in the woods at evening until the stars came out and the
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 189
bats were flying (for my days were spent at school, and
there was no time but morning and evening in which to
really live), I heard a burst of melody far above the tree
tops, and saw the little singer rising against the glow in the
western sky, simulating the Skylark, and pouring forth its
Fig. 62.—Oven-bird and nest.
melody, not to the orb of day but to the slowly rising moon ;
then, when the melody came nearer, as the exhausted singer
fell from out the sky and shot swiftly downward, alighting
at my very feet, I saw in the dim light that the author of
this soaring vesper song was my little common, every-day
friend, the Oven-bird. Night after night I listened to its
flight song above the wooded hills of Worcester, where it
is one of the usual sounds of evening. Years afterward,
John Burroughs, the dean of nature writers, described its
evensong, and people seemed to marvel as if it were a new
190 USEFUL BIRDS.
discovery. It seemed to me impossible that any one who
ever went out into the woods at evening should have missed
hearing this characteristic song. But so it is. Some one
describes for the first time some common sight or sound of
the woods and fields, — something well known to all who fre-
quent them, something which it seems ought to be known
to all the world,—and it is received with acclaim as a
discovery. Mr. Burroughs has aptly given the Oven-bird
the name of calling “Teacher, teacher,” but here in Massa-
chusetts it exhorts the teacher to teach somewhat as_fol-
lows: “Teacher, teacher, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER,
TEACHER, reacu.” The bird is already becoming known
as the “ Teacher Bird.” Its common alarm notes are a chuck
or a sharp chick.
Its golden crown, its spotted breast, and its manner of
walking upon the ground or along a limb, as well as its
characteristic song, which is usually uttered when the singer
is perched upon a horizontal limb in the woods, will all serve
to identify the bird. The lift of the tail, which is charac-
teristic of all birds of this genus, and which has given them
the name of Wagtails, is more noticeable among the Water-
Thrushes than with this species. The Oven-bird is more
distinctively a ground Warbler than any other common
species except the Water-Thrushes. It feeds very largely
from the ground, walking about silently and deliberately, as
if in no hurry, and picking up its food from among the fallen
leaves; but when alarmed it usually flies to the trees, among
the branches of which the males sing and woo their intended
mates. When the female, having young, is started from the
nest, she drags herself along over the ground fluttering as if
sorely wounded, in an effort to lead her disturber away from
her home. Both parents are exceedingly affectionate toward
their young, and endeavor to protect them by every means
in their power.
When upon the ground it feeds like Thrushes and To-
whees, finding grubs among the leaves, and picking up cat-
erpillars or other insects that have dropped from the trees.
In this way it finds many caterpillars of the gipsy moth in
their hiding places among dead leaves or shrubbery. It
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 191
often goes to orchards near the woods, and seeks canker-
worms and other tree pests. Dr. Warren says that it eats
earthworms. While mainly insectivorous, this bird can sub-
sist partly on farinaceous food. It picks up many small
seeds, and dwellers in the woods find it coming about the
doors for crumbs.
Black and White Warbler. Black and White Creeper.
Mniotilta varia.
Length. — About five and one-quarter inches.
Adult Male.—Streaked generally except on belly with black and white; belly
white; fine streaks on sides of neck and lower back sometimes give a gray
effect.
Adult Female. — Much the same, except duller, with colors more suffused ; under
parts mainly white, with obscure streaks on sides.
Nest. — On ground; much like Oven-bird’s ; similarly concealed, and often roofed,
but smaller; it is sometimes built in a hollow tree.
Eggs.— White, brown-spotted at large end.
This common, well-known Warbler, which rarely builds
its nest in trees, resorts to them for a greater part of its
food. The bird is usually found in woodlands, ranging from
low river valleys to the slopes of high
hills. It usually nests on dry land in
deciduous woods, where it may be seen
throughout the season creeping about old
stumps, shrubbery, and the trunks and
limbs of trees. It follows out the limbs, wig. 63.— Black and
peering quickly here and there, overand = Whe eee
back, in its endless search for insects.
Its usual notes are a thin screep or chirp, and a sharp
chick. The ordinary song is a repetition of such notes, not
unmusical, and characteristic of the woods. Mr. Hoffman
describes it as wee-see’, wee-see’, wee-see’; but the bird has
another lay, far more musical and varied than this, which is
often heard early in the season, when the first males come.
This burst of melody is usually preceded by a few notes of
its common song. It chatters also when it Is excited or
disturbed by some enemy. This bird largely takes the eco-
nomic place in summer that is so well filled by the Brown
Creeper in the winter woods, but it is not so much confined
LOZ, USEFUL BIRDS.
to the tree trunks. Like the Creeper, it searches every
cranny of the bark for insects; it feeds on wood-boring
insects, bark beetles, click beetles, curculios, and the eges
of insects. But it does much more than this, for when it
comes to Massachusetts the buds are about to burst, and all
through the spring and summer it searches over the limbs,
twigs, buds, and leaves, destroying caterpillars, beetles, and
bugs that are found on bark and foliage. Now and then it
startles a resting moth from a tree trunk, or observes one
flying below, and, darting down, catches it in air almost as
skilfully asa Flycatcher. Its swiftness and dexterity in fly-
catching seem to be derived largely from the impetus of its
downward plunge, for, so far as I have observed, it never
essays to follow insects that fly by above it.
The bird is very destructive at times to hairy caterpillars,
eating large quantities of them; and, as it also destroys the
pupz and moths of these insects, it exerts considerable in-
fluence toward checking the gipsy moth. This Warbler is
quite as valuable in the orchard as in the woodland, as it
feeds on many orchard pests; but unfortunately it is not so
commonly seen in orchards as in its favorite woods. Its
food on those occasions when it descends to the ground is not
very well known, but it often picks up cutworm moths that
hide there, and Gentry says that it eats earthworms.
Chestnut-sided Warbler.
Dendroica pensylvanica.
Length. — About five and one-half inches.
Adult Male.— Top of the head yellow; back yellow and ashy, black-streaked ;
ear patch and wing bars, large spots on tail feathers, and under parts,
white; a black patch extends from the lower mandible to and through the
eye above, and below to a broad chestnut streak which runs down the side
of the body.
Adult Female.— Somewhat similar, but duller.
Nest. — Usually in a low bush, lined with fine grasses.
Eggs.— White, with purplish or reddish brown spots and blotches.
Season. — May to September.
This species is a summer resident throughout most of the
State, usually appearing here the second week in May. In
spring it may be seen gleaning insects in both woods and
orchards and in all kinds of vegetation, from low shrubbery
ry
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 193
to tall trees; but, unlike the other species of Warblers
hereinbefore considered, it does not commonly go to the
ground for much of its food. During the breeding season
it is largely a bird of the shrubbery on the borders of wood-
land, and, like the Yellow-throat, is common along bushy
roadsides. There in warm
weather it is often seen, with
its tail elevated and its wings
drooping, flitting occasionally
from bush to bush, or cateh-
ing insects in air, after the
manner of the Myrtle Warbler.
Its common note is a sharp
chirp, much like that of other
Warblers; but its spring song Fig. 64.—Chestnut-sided Warbler,
‘is loud, varied, and distinct, See ce
resembling most that of the Yellow Warbler. Its usual
summer song is a soft, prolonged, rather weak but pleasing
warble. The nest building of this Warbler is an interesting
part of its life history. Its nest, though often built in locali-
ties frequented by the Yellow Warbler, is little like that of
the latter except in shape. It is situated usually in a much
lower shrub than is that of the Yellow Warbler, and is built
more strongly and with more painstaking care. Mr. Mosher
notes on May 17, 1899, that a pair of these birds had just
completed a nest. They had been at work upon it for five
days. The female first laid the foundation at the forking of
three branches of an arrow-wood bush, about two and one-
half feet from the ground. She laid a few straws and fibers
of plants, then bound them to the three branches by means
of tent caterpillars’ web. Then she brought a few straws
at a time and placed them around the sides, shaping them
by turning round and round. She bound them ver y firmly
in place with the web, and thus fastened them to the three
branches. When the sides were all finished she put in the
lining. This consisted of fine grasses and soft fibers. The
nest when completed was much less bulky than the Yellow
Warbler’s, but much firmer; the walls were not more than
one-fourth as thick.
194 USHFUL BIRDS.
The food of the Chestnut-sided Warbler is such that the
bird must be exceedingly useful in woodland and shrubbery,
and in orchard and shade trees as well, whenever it frequents
them. It is probable that at times it destroys considerable
numbers of parasitic hymenoptera, as it is rather expert as a
flycatcher ; but it is very destructive to many injurious beetles
and caterpillars, being one of the most active consumers of
leaf-eating insects. Small borers or bark beetles, plant bugs
and plant lice, leaf hoppers, ants, and aphids are eaten.
In seasons of great want it eats a few seeds. Audubon
says that he once shot several birds in Pennsylvania during a
cold spell and snowstorm in early spring, and that the only
food in their stomachs was grass seeds and a few spiders, but
the birds were emaciated and evidently half starved. This
Warbler is almost entirely insectivorous, and for this reason,
perhaps, as soon as its young are well able to travel both
young and old begin their southern journey. In September
a few birds, probably from farther north, may be seen in
autumnal dress, gleaning insects from the tree tops, and no
more are seen until the following spring.
Yellow Warbler. Blue-eyed Yellow Warbler. Yellow Bird. Summer
Yellow Bird. ‘‘ Wild Canary.”’
Dendroica cestiva.
Length. — About five inches.
Adult Male.— Yellow; back a rich yellow-olive, occasionally streaked with
orange-brown; breast also streaked narrowly with the same color.
Adult Female.—Similar, but duller; breast generally unstreaked.
Nest.— A deep, soft cup five to ten feet from ground, in a bush, or higher up in
orchard or shade tree, or in a fork of small sapling or shrub.
Eggs.— Hither bluish-white or greenish-white, with obscure lilac markings, and
brown spots grouped around the larger end.
Season. — May to September
The Yellow Bird is the most familiar of all our Warblers,
for it has forsaken the woodlands for orchards and shade
trees near dwelling houses. It arrives in May, when the first
young leaflets begin to clothe the trees with verdure, and
plays about like a rich yellow flame among the pink of the
apple blossoms. It is often confused in the popular mind
with the Goldfinch, which is also called the Yellow Bird,
but which may be distinguished at once by the black of the
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. Lg
crown, Wings, and tail, for the Yellow Warbler has no black
markings.
Although the Yellow Warbler is not now commonly found
in the woods, it is Sometimes seen within their borders, and
is common in thickets along streams and roads, as well as in
bushy pastures. It is not usually
seen on the ground or in the tops
of the tallest trees, but visits all
parts of trees and shrubbery.
Its alarm note is a loud chirp.
Its usual song has much the quality
of a whistle, and may be expressed
by the syllables we’-chee, we'-chee,
Fig. 65.— Yellow Warbler, two-
thirds natural size.
wee'oo. The song is frequently
much longer, has several variations, and often closely re-
sembles one song of the Chestnut-sided Warbler.
The nest building of this bird is performed entirely by the
female ; the nest is daintily but loosely constructed, and is
very rapidly built. The following brief account of the nest
building, taken from Mr. Mosher’s notes, May 16, 1899,
shows this bird to be an enemy of the cankerworm and the
tent caterpillar : —
She first laid a foundation of a few straws and placed upon them
the cotton or down from fern fronds. These she bound together with
the silk from a tent caterpillars web. Then she went alternately
for the cotton and the silk, stopping occasionally at an apple tree and
feeding for a moment or two on cankerworms. When I went past the
nest at night I found she had it nearly complete; the lining only was
lacking.
It would be hard to find a summer bird more useful among
the shade trees or in the orchard and small-fruit garden than
this species. Almost entirely insectivorous, it feeds on many
of the greatest pests that attack our fruit trees, vines, and
berry bushes. Whenever the caterpillars of which it is fond
are plentiful, they form about two-thirds of its food. It is
destructive to the small caterpillars of the gipsy moth and
the brown-tail moth, and is inordinately fond of cankerworms
and other measuring worms. Tent caterpillars are com-
monly eaten. Small bark beetles and boring beetles are
196 USEFUL BIRDS.
eaten, among them the imago of the currant borer. Weevils
are greedily taken. A few useful beetles are sacrificed ;
among them ground beetles, soldier beetles, and small seay-
enger beetles. The Yellow Warbler has some expertness as
a flycatcher among the branches, and seizes small moths, like
the codling moth, with ease, but apparently does not take
many parasitic hymenoptera, though some flies are taken.
Plant lice sometimes form a considerable portion of its food.
No part of the tree where it can find insect food is exempt
from its visits, and it even takes grasshoppers, spiders, and
myriapods from the ground, grass, or low-growing herbage.
It usually leaves Massachusetts in August or early September.
American Redstart.
Setophaga ruticilla.
Length.—Five to five and one-half inches.
Adult Male.— Lustrous black; head, neck, and most of breast black; a wide
orange band across wing quills, and another across basal parts of all but
the middle tail feathers; sides of body and lining of wings flame color,
a tinge of which sometimes extends across the lower breast; other lower
parts mainly white.
Adult Female and Male of the First Year.— Similar, but without black; colors
paler, the black replaced above by gray and olive and below by white;
orange replaced by yellow, and a whitish line in front of and around the
eye. Tail of young male darker toward tip than that of female.
Nest.— A neat, compact structure, in upright fork of sapling or tree.
Eggs.—Somewhat similar to those of the Yellow Warbler, but usually with
fewer and finer spots.
Season. — May to September.
This species arrives in Massachusetts about the second
week in May. Unlike the foregoing Warblers, it forages
habitually from the ground and low underbrush to the very
tops of the tallest trees. It is also a very active and expert
flyeatcher. Its bill is broadened at the base and its mouth is
surrounded with bristles, like those of the Flycatchers and
some other families that take their prey mostly upon the
wing. The Redstart is almost constantly in nervous motion,
darting and fluttering from twig to twig in pursuit of its
elusive prey. In all its movements its wings are held in
readiness for instant flight, and in its sinuous twistings and
turnings, risings and fallings, its colors expand, contract, and
glow amid the sylvan shades like a dancing torch in the
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. PO
hands of a madman. Chapman tells us that in Cuba most
of our wood Warblers are known simply as “mariposas ”
(butterflies), but the Redstart’s flaming plumage has won
for it the name of “ candelita,” the “little torch,” that flashes
in the gloomy depths of the tropical forest. He gives the
Fig. 66.— American Redstart. Lower figure, male; upper figure, female.
One-half natural size.
song as ching, ching, chee, ser-wee, swee, swee-e-e, and this
is a good description of its general character. The song
varies, however, like that of other Warblers, but is usually
more cheerful than musical. The alarm note of the Redstart
is a sharp chirp.
The insect food of the Redstart is perhaps more varied
than that of any other common Warbler. Apparently there
are few forest insects of small size that do not, in some of
their forms, fall a prey to this bird. Caterpillars that escape
some of the slower birds by spinning down from the branches
and hanging by their silken threads are snapped up in mid air
by the Redstart. It takes its prey from trunk, limbs, twigs,
leaves, and also from the air, so that there is no escape for
198 USEFUL BIRDS.
the tree insects which it pursues unless they reach the upper
air, where the Redstart seldom goes, except in migration.
It has been named the flycatcher of the inner tree tops, but
it is a flycatcher of the bush tops as well. While there are
few small pests of deciduous trees that it does not eat in
some form, it is not confined to these trees, but forages more
or less among coniferous trees. Also it is seen at times in
orchards, and gleans among shade trees in localities where
the woods are cut away. It is impossible to weigh the pros
and cons of this bird’s food, for no thorough examination of
it has ever been made. It is an efficient caterpillar hunter,
and one of the most destructive enemies of the smaller hairy
caterpillars. It catches bugs, moths, gnats, two-winged flies,
small grasshoppers, and beetles. It probably secures a larger
proportion of parasitic hymenoptera and diptera than most
other Warblers, occasionally destroying a few wasps ; other-
wise, its habits seem to be entirely beneficial.
Black-throated Green Warbler.
Dendroica virens.
Length. — About five inches.
Adult Male.— Olive above; sides of head and neck yellow, often with darker
line through eye; chin, throat, and breast black ; belly white; sides striped
with blackish; wings and tail dark; white wing bars; outer tail feathers
marked with white.
Adult Fenvale.— Yellow duller; black of throat largely obscured by gray.
Nest.— Usually fifteen to fifty feet up in a white pine, in a fork toward the end
of a branch; made of bark, twigs, and grasses, and lined with soft materials.
Eggs.—Creamy white, with brown and purplish markings grouped toward the
larger end.
Season. — April to October.
The Warblers noted in the pages immediately preceding
live largely among deciduous trees and shrubbery; but
this species dwells by choice among coniferous trees, and
in Massachusetts it stays principally in groves of white
pine. While migrating in spring and fall it feeds anywhere
in mixed deciduous woods, but it is evidently more at home
among the pines, where it gleans its usual food from the
lower branches to the tree tops. This bird does not com-
monly descend to the ground except to procure nesting
material or to bathe.
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 199
One day, as I stopped to drink at a spring in the woods, a
beautiful male Black-throated Green Warbler shot down from
a tall tree and alighted on a moss-grown rock that bordered
the diminutive pool. Evidently he had not expected ine, but
was not at all afraid. He looked up at me inquiringly for a
moment, and then, stepping into the
shallow water, dipped his head and
threw the drops in showers as he
shook out his brilliant plumage
in the bath. His ablutions
finished, quite within reach
of my hand, he mounted again
to the tree top, and sent back his drowsy
Song. Fig. 67.— Black-throated
“Whistbird has sseveraluchiros which ait, “Green Warbler, natural
size,
utters to express different emotions, but
its song is most charming, harmonizing, as it does, with the
whispering of the pines to the summer wind. It has a zeecng
sound. Hoffman gives it as zee, zee, zu, 27. This is given
with a little of the quality which characterizes the song of the
harvest cicada, and often with a difference in the pitch of the
first and last syllables. John Burroughs graphically repre-
sents the notes thus: ——4/7 7. The upper lines signify
the higher tones. Bradford Torrey translates the song as
“Trees, trees, murmuring trees; ” but a more practical writer
assures us that the bird calls for “Cheese, cheese, a little
more cheese.” It has at least one other song of the same
character, but longer and perhaps a trifle more varied. This
is usually considered to be its entire repertoire; but no one
san ever be quite sure that he knows all the notes of any
bird. In the fall of 1905 I heard in a small birch tree in
Concord a song that resembled closely the lay of a Warbling
Vireo. In fact, I mistook it for the song of that bird; but
in trying to find the singer I soon learned that there was
no Vireo in the tree, and that the song came from a young
male Black-throated Green Warbler, which repeated it sev-
eral times: before my eyes.
Mr. C. A. Reed says he believes that when its nest is in
danger of discovery this Warbler sometimes brings straws
200 USEFUL BIRDS.
and places them on a branch in plain sight of the observer,
in order to deceive him, and draw his attention away from
the nest. He states that he has known of more than one
occurrence of this kind. His observations seem to be cor-
roborated by the actions of a bird that was nesting in our pine
grove. When watched, it began carrying nesting material
into an old tin can that was suspended ina large pine tree ;
but when the attention of the observer was attracted else-
where, it went no farther with its nest in the can. While
the birds are building, the male brings some nesting mate-
rial, but the female does the work of construction. The
food of this Warbler, like that of others of the family, con-
sists of caterpillars and other larvee of many kinds, beetles,
small bugs, and flies. Professor Aughey says that the stom-
achs of five specimens taken in Nebraska contained two hun-
dred and twenty insects, — an average of forty-four to each
bird ; a large number of these insects were young locusts.
Pine Warbler. Pine-creeping Warbler.
Dendroica vigorsi.
Length. — Five and one-half to six inches.
Adult Male.— Above, olive; wings and tail dusky; two white wing bars; throat,
breast, and line over eye bright yellow, somewhat clouded or streaked on
sides with a darker shade.
Adult Female.—Duller; often with little or no yellow below; large white spots
on two outer tail feathers of both sexes.
iVest.— In much the same situation as that of the Black-throated Green Warbler,
but oftener in pitch pines; it is sometimes saddled on a horizontal limb,
and is then flat and rather slovenly in build; usually lined with feathers.
Eggs.— White with brown markings, chietly at larger end.
Season. — April to October.
The Pine Warbler has a marked preference for pine woods
and groves; but, unlike the Black-throated Green Warbler,
it seems to prefer the pitch pines, and is one of the few birds
that habitually live and breed in the woods of this charac-
ter that exist on dry and sandy lands, like those of Cape
Cod. It has been called the Pine-creeping Warbler, from
its habit of creeping along the branches, and occasionally
up and around the trunks of pines. For a Warbler it
seems a rather slow and indolent bird; still, at times it is
remarkably active. Its alarm note is a sharp chirp; its
other notes are few and weak. The song is one of the most
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 201
soothing sounds of the pine woods. It has in it the same
dreamy drowsiness that characterizes the note of the Black-
throated Green Warbler, but is otherwise entirely different
in tone and quality, being composed of a series of short,
soft, whistling notes, run together in a continuous trill. It
resembles, in a way, the song of the Chip-
ping Sparrow, except that it is softer and
more musical. Often the bird will
sit for ten or fifteen minutes
in one spot, and,
as the song seems EZ
ventriloquial at 2
times, the singer Is
then hard to find.
This bird is one of
the earliest Warblers to
arrive in spring. It is
undoubtedly the partic-
ular guardian of the
pines, about which it
Fig. 68.— Pine Warbler, natural size.
remains until very late in the season, for it feeds mainly on
insects that infest pine trees. It has been seen in Wareham
in December and January. It is able to subsist to some
extent on the seeds of pines, and when there is a good crop
of pine seed it can remain longer than most other Warblers.
Myrtle Warbler. Myrtle Bird. Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Dendroica coronata.
Length. — About five and one-half inches.
Adult Male.— Above, slaty; black-streaked; wings and tail brownish, marked
with white; chest clouded and streaked with black ; two wing bars, throat,
tail spots, lower breast, and belly white; crown, rump, and a patch on each
side of breast bright yellow.
Female.—In spring, much like male, but duller; in fall, and male in fall,
generally browner, with colors less pure and conspicuous.
Young. — Brownish above, white below; rump yellow.
Nest. —In bush or coniferous tree, usually lined with fine, soft materials.
Eggs. — White, marked with browns and purples.
Season. — April to November; winters in favorable localities.
This beautiful bird probably does not breed in Massachu-
setts except in some higher parts of northern Worcester
202 USEFUL BIRDS.
County and among the western hills, but it is one of the
most common migrating Warblers throughout the State.
The Myrtle Warbler has a variety of notes, but the one
usually uttered both spring and fall is a soft chirp or chup,
which, at a little distance, exactly resembles the sound pro-
duced by a large drop of water as it strikes
on wet ground or leaf mould. These
sounds are so similar that after
storms in the woods I have often
found it difficult to distinguish the
note of this Warbler from the splash of
the large drops that were still falling from
the trees. The sone is a rather weak
ras)
ray: , Ter swee ” a - = >
ELC Ie warble, very sweet, and often of long
bler, nearly natural duration. Sometimes portions of it are
ee given quite loudly, in a jingling tone,
resembling somewhat that of the Indigo Bird. It has quite
as many variations as the song of any Warbler that I now
recall,
The Myrtle Bird remains through the winter in some por-
tions of the State where it can find food ; and, as it frequents
woodlands, orchards, and shade trees, as well as thickets,
it is probably the most useful of the Warblers that are not
common in summer, It remains in fall all along the coast
where bayberries grow, and until the supply of this fruit
becomes exhausted ; then the birds must either move to more
favored regions, or perish of cold and hunger, which latter
not infrequently happens in hard winters. They do not,
however, rely entirely on bayberries, but eat a few other
berries and some seeds, and spend much time in searching
for hibernating insects and insects’
egos. They are not confined to
the sea coast in winter, for they
‘an live on the berries of the red
cedar; and I have found them Fig. 70.—Woolly apple tree
; aphis, eaten by Myrtle Warbler.
wintering in sheltered localities in
central Worcester County. Dr. Weed made a special study
of the autumn food of this species. He found that they ate
bayberries, caddis flies, various insect larve, beetles, plant
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 203
lice and their eggs, house flies and other diptera, and a very
few hymenopterous flies. I can only add to this the fact
that I have seen this species feeding on the woolly apple tree
aphis (Schizoneura lanigera) in late October and early No-
vember, after all the birch plant lice, of which these birds
are very fond, had disappeared. This apple tree aphis is a
particularly destructive species, which has done great injury
in the past. Young trees are frequently injured by these
aphids, which also attack the roots and the new growth
on older trees. As spring approaches, the Myrtle Warbler
feeds less on berries and seed, but eagerly hunts the early
flies, moths, and gnats that appear on warm days in sheltered
swamps and along water courses. It now becomes of great
service to orchard and woodland, for large flights of these
birds move slowly northward through the State, feeding
very largely on the tree pests that develop with the open-
ing foliage.
VIREOS.
The Vireos all normally seek orchard, woodland, or swampy
thicket. The three species, however, that breed commonly
in the greater part of Massachusetts, have all learned to nest
about the habitations of man. They perform an economic
service similar to that rendered by the Warblers, except that
during summer they feed to a greater extent upon wild fruits.
They live mainly among the foliage, and in action much re-
semble Warblers, except that, being heavier in build, their
motions are usually more deliberate. The Solitary Vireo
and the White-eyed Vireo breed here, but only uncommonly
or locally. The latter is common in some places near the
coast, but I have found it in only a few favored localities in
the interior. The Solitary Vireo is regarded as rare in the
breeding season, but it probably breeds in all the northern
counties in most seasons. It may be present in a certain
piece of woods during one breeding season and absent the
next, and is sometimes fairly common in a few restricted
areas in Essex and Middlesex counties.
204. USEFUL BIRDS.
Red-eyed Vireo.
Vireo olivaceus.
Length. — About six inches.
Adult.— Upper parts grayish olive-green, changing to gray on the crown; a dark
stripe on either side of the crown; a light stripe over the eye, and dark
streak from bill through eye; under parts grayish-white, deepening to pale
olive-yellow on the flanks; iris ruby-red.
Nest.— A pensile cup; usually hung by its upper edge from a fork, five to
twenty-five feet from the ground.
Eggs.— White, spotted with dark brown at the larger end.
Season. — May to September.
The Red-eyed Vireo, although not so abundant as the
Robin, is one of the most common and widely distributed
summer birds. It breeds throughout the State. It is very
devoted to its eggs and
young, and sits very closely
on the nest. The mother
bird will often allow a per-
son to wallk by within arm’s
length while she remains
quietly sitting. The par-
ent birds feed and protect
their young for a long time
after they leave the nest.
Fig. 71.— Red-eyed Vireo, natural size.
This Vireo sleeps very
soundly ; soon after sunset and before the shades of night
have fallen the mother bird on her nest tucks her head under
her wing, and is sometimes so oblivious to the world that
she may be approached and taken in the hand. The Red-
eye is found wherever there are groups of deciduous trees,
or woodlands and thickets. Its movements as it slips about
among the branches are rather deliberate. It sings continu-
ally, but the song is intermittent, as though the bird were
singing incidentally as a pastime, like a boy whistling at his
work. The song is composed of phrases of a few syllables
each, and the manner of its delivery, with many rising and
some falling inflections and frequent pauses, led Wilson Flage
to name the bird the “ preacher.” Many years ago I learned
that the preacher had other business than his preaching, and
that he practised as he preached ; for it was through watching
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 205
this species that I first became aware of the usefulness of birds
toman. One sunny day in early boyhood I watched a Vireo
singing in a swampy thicket. He sang a few notes, his head
turning meanwhile from side to side, his eyes scanning closely
the near-by foliage. Suddenly the song ceased; he leaned
forward, sprang to another twig, snatched a green caterpillar
from the under side of a leaf, swallowed it, and resumed the
song. Every important pause in his dissertation signalized
the capture of a larva. As the discourse was punctuated, a
worm was punctured. It seems as if the preaching were a
serious business with the bird ; but this seeming is deceptive,
for the song merely masks the constant vigilance and the
sleepless eye of this premium caterpillar hunter. In the
discovery of this kind of game the bird has few superiors.
He goes about it in the right way. Minot says: “They have
never struck me as very active insect hunters, since they
devote so much of their time to their music.” This is true,
but the Vireo does not hunt active game so much as it seeks
those defenceless larve that must depend upon their protec-
tive shape and coloring to conceal them from their enemies.
These devices may insure them against some of their insect
foes, but not against the Vireo. It is most astonishing to
see him pick up caterpillar after caterpillar from twigs and
foliage, where with the best glasses our untrained eyes can
discern “nothing but leaves.” And so the bird sings the
livelong day, to while away the time as it searches over the
foliage. This habit of song becomes so strong that the male
bird sings while sitting on the nest to relieve his faithful
mate. He sings all summer, and even into the fall. When
bis hunger is temporarily satisfied, he will sit on a twig and
sing for minutes at a time. His common notes are an alarmed
chatter and a querulous cry.
The Red-eyed Vireo is now becoming well recognized as
a great insect eater. Mr. Arthur G. Gilbert informed me
that he fed a young bird of this species a hundred grass-
hoppers ina day. When the last grasshopper had been swal-
lowed the bird was well filled, for the tips of the insects’
wings projected from the bird’s bill. This Vireo is one of the
most effective enemies of the gipsy moth and brown-tail moth.
206 USEFUL BIRDS.
Moths and butterflies of many kinds are eaten ; also assassin
bugs, tree hoppers, and bugs that eat plants and fruit. Many
beetles, among them boring beetles, bark beetles, and weevils,
allare eaten. This bird at
times becomes an expert flycatcher, taking horseflies, mos-
grasshoppers, katydids, locusts,
quitoes, and other gnats, and many gall flies. It appears to
take a larger proportion of fruit than the other Vireos. In
summer I have found many seeds of berries in the stomachs
of these birds, and sometimes a stomach will be found nearly
filled with blueberries. Raspberries, blackberries, and mul-
berries are commonly eaten. Professor King has found dog-
wood berries, berries of the prickly ash, and sheep berries in
their stomachs; Dr. Fisher says they are fond of the fruits
of the benzoin bush, the sassafras, and magnolia; and Dr.
Warren asserts that they feed on poke berries and wild
grapes.
Warbling Vireo.
Vireo gilvus.
Length. — About five and three-fourths inches.
Adult.— Upper parts generally brownish-gray, tinged more or less with olive-
green; sides of head lighter, with a rather light line above the eye, but no
dark line through it; below, dull white, passing into yellowish on the belly
and pale buff or olive on sides.
Nest and Eggs. — Much like those of the preceding species, but a trifle smaller;
usually in a shade tree, from fifteen to fifty feet up.
Season. — May to September.
In appearance the Warbling Vireo is much like the Red-
eye, but it is smaller and less distinetly marked. In the
breeding season it is usually seen
at no great distance from the
large elms and other great shade
trees that line country roads and
village streets. It was found com-
monly in city shade trees until the intro-
duced House Sparrow drove it out. The
Warbling Vireo, like its closely related
Fig. 72.—Warbling Congeners, moves about amid the branches
ee ree of trees, flying only occasionally to the
ground, or moving from tree to tree in short flights. Its
ordinary notes are similar to those of the Red-eye, but are
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 207
less vigorous. Its song is a rather low, weak, but pleasing
and continuous warble, resembling somewhat in quality the
song of the Purple Finch, but not nearly so loud and bold.
It has not the abrupt and intermittent phrasing of the song
of the preceding species, but is sweeter, more tender, and
less monotonous.
This bird is of immense service to man in the destruction
of vast numbers of injurious insects that infest the trees
about the house, garden, and orchard, as well as those of
the woods. As it is quite a flycatcher, both crawling larvee
and winged imagoes suffer from its depredations. Horseflies
and other dipterous insects, crane flies and mosquitoes, are
all taken. Its food, however, consists largely of caterpillars
and other leaf-eating insects ; among these are the imported
elm-leaf beetle (Galerucella luteola) and the twelve-spotted
cucumber beetle. Grasshoppers are not neglected. Occa-
sionally useful flies, ladybirds, or bees are killed, but the
great majority of insects eaten are injurious. The fruit taken
seems to be mainly wild and worthless berries.
Yellow-throated Vireo.
Vireo flavifrons.
Length. — Nearly six inches. ‘
Adult. — Above, yellowish olive-green, shading into bluish-ash on rump; mark-
ings about eye yellow; white wing bars; wing and tail feathers dark,
edged with whitish; below, yellow from throat to belly, which is white;
sides olive, shading into gray.
Nest. — A rather large pensile cup, hung from forking twigs, three to twenty feet
from the ground.
Eggs.— White, with black and brown or purplish spots about larger end.
Season. — May to September.
The Yellow-throated Vireo was once evidently an inhabitant
of open forests of great deciduous trees, although it is some-
times found in pines ; but since the destruction of the original
timber growth in this Commonwealth it has learned to seek
the great shade trees that have grown up along streets and
about residences or in pastures. The groves of large oaks
and other deciduous trees that are found on well-cared-for
estates are among its favorite breeding places. It often
dwelis in old orchards. Thus it has come to live about the
habitations of man, and in eastern Massachusetts is more
208 USEFUL BIRDS.
commonly seen there in the breeding season than in deep
woods.
The nest of this bird, which is about a week in the build-
ing, is outwardly one of the handsomest specimens of bird
architecture to be found anywhere. It is difficult to see how
it is possible for a bird to con-
struct such a nest, and cover
it so tastefully with lichens
and plantdown. Undoubtedly
the skillful use of caterpillars’ web
serves in attaching these ornamen-
tal materials.
The bird is comparatively deliber-
ate in both song and movement, and,
Heian iar iene ae though naturally shy when it was con-
Vireo, two-thirds natural fined to the open woods, it has now
ee become rather fearless, and may be
readily watched with a glass as it moves among the tall trees.
The song is a little louder than that of most Vireos, and may
be easily distinguished from all others. It usually consists
of two or three rich and virile notes, uttered interrogatively
or tentatively, followed immediately by a few similar tones
uttered decisively. The bird appears to ask a question, and
then answer it. Its alarm notes are as harsh as those of an
Oriole, and somewhat similar in quality.
This Vireo should be most carefully protected and encour-
aged to breed about the homes of man, for it feeds upon pests
of the household, forest, and orchard. Common house flies
and mosquitoes are eaten. In the orchard it attacks the
apple plant lice, the hairy tent, gipsy, and tussock cater-
pillars, as well as moths of many species. It is quite de-
structive to the larve of butterflies also, while weevils and
other beetles, grasshoppers, and leaf hoppers are eaten to a
less extent. This species eats a few unimportant wild ber-
ries, such as the fruit of the red cedar; but so far as I have
observed it is not so fond of fruit as the Red-eyed Vireo,
and its only possible harmful habits seem to be the occa-
sional destruction of a bee, a syrphus fly, or some hyme-
nopterous parasite.
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 209
WAXWINGS.
These beautiful but inconspicuous birds are noted for the
peculiar appendage which in many specimens adorns the tip
of each secondary quill, and is sometimes found on the tip
of each tail feather also. These waxy appendages seem to
be ornamental rather than useful. They resemble sealing
wax, hence the name Waxwing. The Bohemian Waxwing,
a northern species, is a rare winter visitor to Massachusetts.
The Cedar Waxwing is the only other species found in
America.
Cedar Waxwing. Cedar Bird. Cherry Bird.
Ampelis cedrorum.
Length. — About seven and a quarter inches.
Adult. — Head long-crested; chin, forehead, space around eye, and line above it
black; general color rich grayish or pinkish brown, with tints of reddish-
olive and purplish-cinnamon, changing on the after parts into ashy above
and yellow and white below; wings and tail gray; tail tipped with yellow.
Nest. — Bulky; from six to fifteen feet up in an orchard or shade tree; composed
of weeds, grass, roots, bark, leaves and twigs.
Eggs.— Light bluish, marked with black and indistinct bluish spots.
Season. — Resident.
This common bird, so richly endowed with beauty and
grace, isno songster. Its charm consists in its elegant shape
and its softness of plumage, with its
insensible changes from one lovely
tint to another. It moves about in
silence, save as it utters a lisping,
“beady ” note ora “hushed whistle.”
Mr. Nehrling says that both male
and female sing. I cannot doubt
that he has heard this song, but
from my own experience I am
led to believe that it is rare in
Massachusetts.
The Cedar Bird gets its name Fig. 74.—Cedar Bird, one-half
from its habit of feeding on cedar et aeaae
berries in fall and winter. It often may be found on some
parts of Cape Cod during the colder months. It is some-
times seen in other parts of the State in winter, and is at-
210 USEFUL BIRDS.
tracted by the berries of the mountain ash. The northward
migration is usually under way in March, but comparatively
few birds are ordinarily seen in central Massachusetts until
late in May. In spring and early summer they seem to feed
almost entirely on insects. They are always plentiful at this
season in a cankerworm year, and they deserve at such
times the local name of “cankerworm birds,” for they fre-
quent infested orchards in large flocks, and fill themselves
with the worms until they can eat no more. There is no
doubt that the countless thousands of caterpillars that they
destroy more than compensate for the cherries they eat,
although in some seasons they are very destructive to cherries.
Such little gluttons rarely can be found among birds. The
Cedar Bird seems to have the most rapid digestion of any
bird with which experiments have been made. Audubon
said that Cedar Birds would gorge themselves with fruit
until they could be taken by hand; and that he had seen
wounded birds, confined in a cage, eat of apples until suffo-
cated. They will stuff themselves to the very throat. So,
wherever they feed, their appetites produce a visible effect.
Professor Forbes estimates that thirty Cedar Birds will
destroy ninety thousand cankerworms in a month. This
calculation seems to be far within bounds.
Cedar Birds are devoted to each other and to their young.
Sometimes a row of six or eight may be seen, sitting close
together on a limb, passing
and repassing from beak to
beak a fat caterpillar or juicy
cherry.. I have seen this
touching courtesy but once,
and believe it was done not
so much from politeness as
from the fact that most of
the birds were so full that they had no room for more,
Fig. 75.— Passing the cherry.
a
condition in which they can afford to be generous. Never-
theless, the manner in which it is done, and the simulation
of tender regard and consideration for each other exhibited,
render it a sight well worth seeing. They also have a habit
of “ billing,” or saluting one another with the bill.
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 211
The food of these birds has been much discussed, and _ it
has been clearly shown that they eat a larger proportion of
fruit and a smaller proportion of insects than most birds.
Here in Massachusetts they often merit the name of Cherry
Birds, for they descend on the cherry trees in considerable
flocks, and destroy a large quantity of fruit. Professor Beal,
however, in examining one hundred and fifty-two stomachs,
found that only nine birds had eaten cultivated cherries, and
that more than half the food consisted of wild fruit.
Mrs. Mary Treat writes of a town in which the elms had
been defoliated for several years by the elm-leaf beetle, but
the Cedar Birds came, and
the trees were afterwards
comparatively free from the
beetles. During the time
when the adult birds feed on
cherries, the young are fed
very largely upon insects,
although fruit is given them
as they grow older. These
birds feed so much on wild
fruit as it ripens, that it con-
stitutes nearly seventy-five
Fig. '76. — Good work in the orchard.
per cent. of their food; but
later, after the young are reared, they turn flycatchers, and
taking a high perch on some tree near a lake or river or
on the borders of the woods, they sally out after flying
insects. Grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, ichneumon flies,
crane flies, and lacewings are all devoured by them. Bugs
and bark lice are also on the bill of fare. While these birds
are sometimes a pest to the fruit grower, they are, on the
whole, beneficial to agriculture, and deserve protection.
TANAGERS.
This group of brilliant woodland birds is represented here
by but two species; one of these, the Summer Tanager, is
very rarely seen; the common Scarlet Tanager is one of
the most valuable birds of orchard and woodland.
212 USEFUL BIRDS.
Scarlet Tanager.
Piranga erythromelas.
Length.— About seven inches.
Adult Male.— Entire body bright scarlet; wings and tail black; in autumn much
like female, but retaining the black on wings and tail.
Adult Female.— Greenish above; yellowish below; wings and tail darker and
brown-tinged.
Nest. — Of fine twigs and straws; usually in lower branches of some large tree,
but sometimes fully twenty feet up; occasionally in the orchard.
Eggs.— Light greenish-blue, with brown and purplish markings.
Season. — May to October.
This most gorgeous of New England birds flashes through
the trees like a brand plucked from tropical flame; but it
is a distinctly North American species, going south only in
Fig. 77.—Scarlet Tanagers (male and female) and gipsy moth caterpillars.
its fall migration, and returning to its chosen northern home
in the spring. The Tanager is a bird of large deciduous
woods, and is less common among great tracts of pines,
hemlocks, and other coniferous trees, although it is often
seen in small groves of these trees, and sometimes nests
there. The oaks are its first favorites, and wherever there
SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 213
gers are sure to come.
Cc
are large groves of white oaks Tana
They also frequent the detached oaks that are found in pas-
tures near woodland. The chestnut is another favorite tree.
This bird seems to have increased somewhat in numbers
within the last forty years, and for at least twenty years has
been common and sometimes abundant in the greater part
of Massachusetts. It is somewhat local, however, and is
rarely as common anywhere as the Robin or Song Sparrow.
It is distinctly an arboreal bird, and seeks its food mainly
among the foliage of trees, where from the higher branches
its song may be most often heard. The lay resembles
somewhat that of a Robin, but is shorter and less varied,
with a little apparent hoarseness or harshness in the tone.
Gentry’s rendering of the song as chi-chi-chi-char-ce, char-
@z-cht, represents it fairly well. At times it seems ventri-
loquial, and the bird is difficult to find, for its brilliant
plumage is not so conspicuous among the shadows of the
foliage as one would naturally expect to find it. It sings at
intervals all through the day, but more often at early morning
and at night. A sudden noise, like a shout or the rumbling
of a carriage along the road, sometimes startles the Tanager
into song, or brings out the alarm note, chip, churr, or the
sharp chip uttered by this bird.
After the leaves have attained their full size, the Tanager,
which feeds mostly in the trees, is hidden much of the time
by the foliage of the tree tops, and so is seldom seen except
g¢ forit. For this
i=)
by those who know its notes and are lookin
reason it is commonly considered rare.
In its food preferences the Tanager is the appointed guard-
ian of the oaks. It is drawn to these trees as if they were
magnets, but the chief attraction seems to be the vast num-
ber of insects that feed upon them. It is safe to say that
of all the many hundreds of insects that feed upon the oaks
few escape paying tribute to the Tanager at some period
of their existence. We are much indebted to this beautiful
bird for its share in the preservation of these noble and
valuable trees. It is not particularly active, but, like the
Vireos, it is remarkably observant, and slowly moves about
among the branches, continually finding and persistently de-
214 USEFUL BIRDS.
stroying those concealed insects which so well escape all but
the sharpest eyes. Nocturnal moths, such as the Catocalas,
which remain motionless on the tree trunks by day, almost
invisible because of their protective coloring, are captured
by the Tanager. Even the largest moths, like cecropia and
luna, are killed and eaten by this indefatigable insect hunter.
Mr. C. E. Bailey once told me that he saw a male Tanager
swallow a luna moth nearly entire, removing only one of the
insect’s wings in the process; but this haste may have been
caused by the attempts of several other birds to take his prey
from him. Mr, Bailey brought me the wing of the moth that
was dropped, lest its identity should be questioned. I once
saw a male Tanager swallow what appeared to be a hellgra-
mite or dobson (Corydalus cornutus) head first and appar-
ently entire, though not without much effort. No one who
will examine the plate of the luna moth, opposite this page,
can fail to appreciate the capacity of the Tanager. It is
difficult to see how the bird can accomplish such feats of deg-
lutition. Asa caterpillar hunter the bird has few superiors.
It is often very destructive to the gipsy moth, taking all
stages but the eggs, and undoubtedly will prove equally
useful against the brown-tail moth. Leaf-rolling caterpillars
it skillfully takes from the rolled leaves, and it also digs out
the larve of gall insects from their hiding places. Many
other injurious larvee are taken. Wood-bering beetles, bark-
boring beetles, and weevils form a considerable portion of
its food during the months when these insects can be found.
Click beetles, leaf-eating beetles, and crane flies are greedily
eaten. These beneficial habits are not only of service in
woodlands, but they are exercised in orchards, which are
often frequented by Tanagers. Nor is this bird confined to
trees, for during the cooler weather of early spring it goes
to the ground, and on plowed lands follows the plow like the
Blackbird or Robin, picking up earthworms, grubs, ants, and
ground beetles. Grasshoppers, locusts, and a few bugs are
taken, largely from the ground, grass, or shrubbery.
Some useful ichneumon flies are destroyed, and a few
spiders and their eggs. Nuttall says that Tanagers eat
whortleberries and seeds, but so far as my observations and
‘Sspaiq POOM Loo
pue sdosvuny, <4
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 235
house flies, mosquitoes, and vast numbers of moths and but-
terflies in both larval and adult stages. Bendire asserts that
Dr. Ralph told him that in Florida the Phoebe alights on the
backs of cattle and follows them around, catching the flies
on the animals, and fluttering above them in search of in-
sects. The only harmful habit of this bird that I have heard
of is also mentioned by Bendire, who says that it is said to
eat trout fry.
As the young of the Phoebe are fed enormous numbers of
insects, as two broods are raised each year, and as in settled
districts the bird has largely forsaken its natural nesting
places for the habitations of man, it is now one of the most
beneficial species. From year to year, as has been proven
repeatedly, the bird returns to its favorite haunts ; and the
young birds, though driven away in the fall by the parents,
like to find, when possible, a nesting site near their old home.
This gives us a hint which may be utilized to increase the
numbers of these birds about our farms.
Kingbird. Bee Martin.
Tyrannus tyrannus.
Length. — About eight inches.
Adult.— Above, very dark gray, crown and tail nearly black; tail feathers
broadly tipped with white; a concealed orange or vermillion patch on
crown; wing feathers and outer tail feathers white-edged; below, white,
darkening on sides of breast.
Nest. — A bulky structure of straw, rootlets, strings, feathers, etc.; usually from
ten to twenty feet up in an orchard tree in field or pasture; sometimes in
a bush on the marshy shore of a pond or river; rarely on a post, bridge, or
building.
Eggs.— Creamy white, heavily marked mainly toward the larger end with brown
and lilac.
Season. — May to September.
The Kingbird is almost as well known as the Robin or
Bluebird. It is common throughout most of the State,
except in heavily wooded regions. Bold and fearless, yet
confident of man’s protection, it seems to prefer the neigh-
borhood of human habitations. It seeks its winged victims
by taking its stand on some orchard tree, a fence wire, a
post, or even a telegraph wire, where it sits turning its head
from side to side, always on the watch. The perfection of
this bird’s sight is illustrated by a statement made by Miss
236 USEFUL BIRDS.
Florence Merriam. She said that a Kingbird was seen to
start from a telegraph pole one hundred and twenty-five feet
from the observer, and fly to within twenty-five feet of him,
for an insect that was invisible to the man at that distance.
If a Crow or Hawk comes in sight, the Kingbird at once
launches into the air with cries of fury, and chases the enemy
!
a — — ES
i ABN fas) a fad acky ie. fe
cs =
Fig. 97.— Kingbird, one-half natural size.
of its young beyond the confines of its chosen domain. —Pro-
fessor Beal relates an instance where a Hawk that had stooped
to some young Turkeys was driven away by a pair of King-
birds, and forced to give up its prey. The Kingbird possesses
such remarkable powers of flight, and is so quick in turning,
that under favorable conditions it can with impunity strike
the swiftest Hawk and get away. The Kingbird’s endeavor
is to rise above its enemy and beat it toward the earth. This
is its only feasible plan. JI once saw a Kingbird attack a
Cooper’s Hawk that was flying low over a field. The small
fighter overtook the Hawk at once and landed on its back,
but after a time the Hawk managed to rise to some height and
then shot off diagonally downward, leaving the Kingbird so
fast that it appeared as if stationary in the air. This suggests
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 237
what might possibly happen were the Hawk to rise quickly
above its adversary. Nevertheless, the Kingbird fears him
not. If an Kagle appears near the Kingbird’s nest he is
immediately assailed by all the warrior tribe and driven in-
gloriously from the field. The Kingbird thus acts as pro-
tector and friend to its weaker neighbors and to the farmer's
poultry and Pigeons.
The brave bird sometimes does not hesitate to attack
even man himself in defence of its nest. It used to be a
favorite pastime with the boys on one farm to throw up a
hat near a Kingbird’s nest and see the birds attack it. I
have seen a boy repeatedly struck on the head by the parent
birds when he was climbing toward their nestful of young.
Nevertheless, the Kingbird, in harrying his neighbors, some-
times meets his match in the Catbird, Oriole, Martin, or
little Hummingbird. The following interesting account of
the nesting of a Kingbird in a rather unusual situation is
taken from Mr. Kirkland’s notes : —
JUNE 29, 1896.— Near the Shady Hill station, Bedford, Mass., a
Kingbird has built its nest directly on the top of a fence post, and in a
location where there is no shade whatever on the nest during the middle
of the day. The fence stands beside a roadway, where in early sum-
mer teams pass a hundred times a day. The fence is made of old rail-
road ties or posts, with barbed wire running between them. ‘The nest
is on the corner post, and from this corner a board fence extends at
right angles down to the railroad track. The top of the post on which
the nest is located is about six by eight inches, with a depression in the
center where the wood has decayed. The nest occupies this depression,
and is made of grass, string, and cotton waste. At the time of my visit
to Bedford there were four partly fledged young in the nest, and these
the old birds were constantly feeding. From their vantage ground on
the telegraph wires near by they would swoop down, catch an insect
or two, and then fly to the nest. I could approach within six feet of
the birds. I was told by Mr. Beard, owner of Shady Till nursery, that
during the hottest weather one of the parent birds would stand over the
young ones, and, with wings outstretched and vibrating, would shade
them and keep them cool.
In this large nursery there were many small trees, but
scarcely a tree large enough for the Kingbird’s nest. The
insects on the young trees probably proved so attractive as
bo
Go
CO
USHFUL BIRDS.
a food supply that the birds placed their nest on the post,
as the most accessible nesting place in the midst of plenty.
Other similar instances have been recorded.
The notes of this bird consist of a series of shrill and
varied twitters, somewhat resembling those of a Swallow.
In spring it often mounts into the air, and, rising high, fre-
quently falls for a distance and then recovers itself, twit-
tering fiercely all the time, as if engaged with an imaginary
antagonist. It appears to be pursuing insects, which it some-
times follows to considerable heights, and having a frolic at
the same time. In warm weather it will sometimes plunge
into the water, and, rising again, shake its plumage like a
Fish Hawk.
The Kingbird, although primarily a feeder on flying insects,
van adapt itself to the pursuit of other food. In flying about.
it often takes insects by skimming and fluttering
over water, or by picking them from the grass
or trees. After the severe rainstorm of June,
1903, when the air was swept clear of all flying
insects by torrents of rain, Mr. Outram Banes
Fig. 98.—Ce- a eats eb. =
tonia, natural S&Ww Kingbirds picking up from the ground dead
D
size.
or dying insects.
They sometimes alight on plowed lands, and pick up grubs
and myriapods; they will also eat wild berries and seeds.
Very large beetles are taken, such as May beetles and
Cetonias, as well as some of the beneficial tiger
beetles and ground beetles. Weevils of both
erain and fruit, click beetles, grasshoppers and
crickets, wasps, wild bees, ants, and flies are
prominent among the food materials of this
bird. Among the flies taken are house flies
and several species that trouble cattle; but nighiot ae
smaller insects, like mosquitoes, gnats, and beetle, natural
midgets, are not ignored. Leaf hoppers and ee
many other bugs are taken; and a great variety of cater-
pillars, mostly of the hairless species, are eaten or fed to the
young. This bird is destructive to moths of many kinds,
among them the gipsy moth. In two and one-half hours
seven of these birds were seen to take seventy-nine male and
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 289
twenty-four female gipsy moths, and they killed in that time
a oreat many more that could not be positively identified.
The Kingbird, therefore, is particularly beneficial about
the garden and orchard, for it eats very little, if any, culti-
vated fruit. The only bad habit attributed to this bird is
that of killing honey bees, and even while catching bees it
seems about as likely to do good as harm. Professor Beal
states that a bee raiser in Iowa, having good reason to believe
that the Kingbirds were feeding upon his bees, shot a number
near his hives, but an expert entomologist could find no trace
of bees in their stomachs. The investigations of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture seem to indicate that the Kingbird does
not ordinarily reduce the aggregate number of working bees.
Only fourteen out of two hundred and eighty-one stomachs
examined contained any remains of honey bees. ‘There were
but fifty bees found, forty of which were drones, only four
were positively identified as workers, and six were so much
broken as to render the distinguishing of sex impossible.
Professor Beal finds that the Kingbird feeds on robber flies,
—insects which prey largely on other insects, especially
honey bees. He considered nineteen robber flies contained
in the Kingbirds’ stomachs to be more than an equivalent for
the working bees found; and the destruction of drones by
Kingbirds is a benefit. On the whole, it seems probable
that, while the Kingbirds eat some bees, they confine their
bee-eating mainly to the drones, and also protect the bees
by killing the moths and flies that prey upon them.
Dragon flies, which are believed to be useful insects, are
killed by Kingbirds, but apparently more from necessity
than choice, as the bird seems to pay little attention to them
when insects more to its taste are plentiful. In studying
the insect enemies of the gipsy moth, it was noticed that
Kingbirds occasionally caught ichneumon flies. It was seen,
however, that at the time when most of the beneficial ich-
neumon flies were depositing their eggs in the caterpillars,
the Kingbirds were absent ; but when these flies had done
their work, when the moths had begun to emerge, and when
an injurious or secondary parasite, Theronia melanocephala,
was depositing its eggs in the living bodies of the beneficial
240 USEFUL BIRDS.
primary parasites, then numbers of Kingbirds were attracted
by the flying moths. Itseems quite probable, therefore, that
the destruction of parasitic insects by Kingbirds is as likely
to be beneficial in such cases as injurious.! As about ninety
per cent. of the Kingbird’s food consists of insects mostly
injurious; as it has never yet been shown to be positively
harmful in any respect ; and as it acts as a protector to small
birds and poultry on the farm, — there need be nothing further
said to commend the bird to the farmer.
HUMMINGBIRDS.
The Hummingbirds are popularly believed to feed solely
upon the nectar of flowers; but they are probably of con-
siderable economic importance, for the reason that, because
of their small size and long, slender beaks, they capture
many tiny insects that conceal themselves among the blos-
soms and foliage. Only one species of this distinctively
American family has been found in Massachusetts.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Trochilus colubris.
Length. — About three and three-fourths inches.
Adult Male. — Above, bright, glossy green; throat metallic ruby-red ; lower parts
white.
Female and Young. — Similar, but without red on throat.
Nest. — A shallow little cup of soft, downy materials, covered externally with
lichens, looking like a ‘‘ moss-covered’”’ knot on a branch; from five to
sixty feet up.
Egqgs.— White.
Season. — May to September.
This dainty, feathered gem, the smallest of all native birds,
comes to us from the tropics when the south wind blows in
May, and when bursting buds and flowers first afford it the
honey, nectar, and tiny insects on which it lives. Often
when the cherry trees are in bloom many of these little sprites
' It would seem from the above that the Kingbird was doubly useful: first, in
killing the gipsy moth; second, in protecting the parasites of the gipsy moth from
secondary parasites. But there may be some doubt regarding the habits of this
Theronia. It is named by Professor Fernald (Monograph of the Gipsy Moth,
Forbush-Fernald, 1896, p. 876) as one of the most useful primary parasites of the
gipsy moth, although he states that Mr. C. E. Bailey captured a specimen in the
act of stinging a gipsy pupa that was already parasitized by a dipterous insect.
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 241
may be seen buzzing about among the petals, with a sound
like that of huge bees. In power of flight the Hummer
surpasses all other birds. The little body, divested of its
feathers, is no larger than the end of one’s finger, but the
breast muscles which move the wings are enormous in pro-
portion to the size of the bird. They form a large part of the
entire trunk, and their power is such that they can vibrate
the inch-long feathers of those little wings with such rapidity
that the human eye can scarcely follow the bird when it is
moved to rapid flight by fear or passion.
The Ruby-throat is exceedingly pugnacious in the nesting
season. The males fight with one another, and, secure in
their unequalled powers of flight, they attack other and larger
birds. When the Hummingbird says “Go !” other birds stand
not upon the order of their going, but go at once; while the
little warrior sometimes accelerates their flight, for his sharp
beak is a weapon not to be despised. Even the Kingbird
goes when the warlike Hummer comes ; the “English” Spar-
row flees in terror ; only the Woodpeckers stand their ground.
When a person approaches the nest, the sharp squeaking or
chirping of the angry Hummer is sometimes followed by the
bird itself, for it has been known to dart at its human visitors.
It seems to have an aversion for the diurnal sphinx moths, or
“Hummingbird moths,” as they are called, and frequently
drives them away from its favorite flowers. Audubon says it
is sometimes chased by “ bumble” bees, but easily avoids them.
Miss Florence Merriam, quoting Mrs. Bagg, described a fierce
battle between Hummers and these large bees, in which the
combatants on both sides fought until exhausted, tearing to
pieces, in the mean time, the flowers among which they fought.
The bee, with its poisoned lance, must be a dangerous antag-
onist for so small a bird.
The Hummingbird’s nest, when newly built, with its two
Later, Mr. Bailey found that the Theronias which he watched invariably stung
pup that were dead, and contained parasitic pupe. Mr. F. H. Mosher has since
made observations which confirm those of Mr. Bailey. This may either indicate
that some one is in error, or it may be considered good ground for the hypothesis
that this Theronia may be at one time or place a primary parasite, and at another
a secondary parasite. If this is possible, it further complicates the relations be-
tween the Kingbird and the gipsy moth.
242 USHFUL BIRDS.
tiny eges, about the size and color of pea beans, lying on
their soft, downy bed, is the prettiest bird home to be found
in our orchards or woodlands. The nest is often built in an
apple or pear tree in the orchard, sometimes in a rose bush
in the garden, not quite as often in the woods; but I once
found two nests, with eggs, in high trees on the face of a
precipitous cliff overlooking a lake. Although the nest in
such situations is usually covered with lichens taken from
the surrounding rocks or trees, the birds sometimes use other
material. Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright avers that she found a
nest in the top of a spruce, some sixty feet from the ground,
and that the nest was covered with flakes of spruce bark,
instead of lichens. The nest is begun in June, and is about
five or six days in the building. The eges are incubated
about eight or ten days, and the young remain in the nest
usually, I think, about three weeks, although Audubon’s
observations do not agree with this. They are very tiny
when first hatched, and grow at first rather slowly, for birds ;
but later they grow so rapidly that the nest, which is at first
a neat cup, is extended by their swelling bodies until its
interior more nearly resembles a saucer than a cup.
The nest represented in the accompanying illustrations
was built in an apple tree in Concord. On July 3, when
the young were _ probably
about two weeks old, the first
sketch was made. As will
be seen (Fig. 100), the birds
were still very small, and cov-
ered with down and _ pinfeathers.
Their bills were quite short, and the
quills of the wings were not developed.
The sketch taken just a week later (Fig.
Fig. 100.—Hum. 102) shows them with their bills fully
icles haa developed, their bodies well-feathered and
one-half natural full-winged, nearly ready for flight. As the
ae young Hummers are fed mainly on minute in-
sects and small or young spiders, a large number of the tiny
creatures must be sacrificed to supply the aliment necessary
for the astounding growth of a week.’ Some authors assert
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 243
that the male bird assists the female in the care of the young ;
but in my experience the male is always absent, and the
female alone provides for the young family. The feeding of
such a family is a most inter-
esting proceeding, as the birds
are fed by regurgitation until
the very day before they leave
the nest. The following re-
marks on the appearance of
the young birds and their
feeding are taken from my
notes on July, 1905: —
How perfect are these little
fledgeling wanderers, in their tiny,
moss-covered cup, shaded from the
Fig. 101.— Mother bird feeding young,
southern sun rays by the green :
- = one-half natural size.
leaves which overhang and sur-
round the nest. Their dainty new feathers, of but a few days’ growth,
have been touched by the tender mother’s breast alone or the gentle dew
of heaven. Their inscrutable, brilliant dark eyes flash quick glances
all around; no motion escapes them. One leans forward from the
nest and attempts to pick a moying aphis from the limb. Their whole
bodies throb quickly with the fast-surging tide of hot life pulsing
through their veins. Now, with a boom like a great bee, the mother
suddenly appears out of the air as she darts almost in my face. I am
standing within two feet of the nest, and she hangs on buzzing wing,
inspecting me, then perches on a limb just above my head, then on
another a few feet away, her head raised and neck craned to its fullest
extent. Buzzing about from place to place, she inspects me, until,
satisfied, she finally alights on the edge of the nest at the usual place,
where her constant coming has detached a piece of lichen and trodden
down the fabric of the edge. The little birds raise themselves with flut-
tering wings, and the parent, rising to her full height, turns her bill
almost directly downward, pushes it into the open beak of the young,
and by working her gullet and throat discharges the food through the
long, hollow bill as from a squirt gun.
Two days later, on the morning of the 11th, when Mr.
Brewster went to the nest, one young bird had gone, but the
other sat on the edge. As he came up, it “flew like a bullet”
up to the roof of the barn, a few rods away.
Undoubtedly the Hummingbirds live to some extent on
244 USEFUL BIRDS.
the nectar of flowers. They are fond of sweetened waters
and the sweet sap of maple trees, yet the greater part of
their food is probably insects. They are so active in the
pursuit of insects and feed on such small species that it is
difficult to observe their fly-catching habits ; but they have
Fig. 102.— Young Hummingbirds nearly fledged, about two-thirds natural size.
been detected, as Wilson says, darting by the hour among
the swarms of little insects that dance in the air on fine
summer evenings. I have watched individuals hovering
about the branches of trees and picking off small insects,
apparently plant lice, or very small spiders. When kept for
a time in confinement they have shown a liking for such flies
and gnats as could be found in their limited quarters ; and
almost invariably when stomachs have been examined they
have contained small winged insects or spiders, or both.
Wilson, who opened “ great numbers” of these birds, found
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 245
them filled with insects about three times out of four. Dr.
Warren records the examination of sixty-two Humming-
bird stomachs. The food contents were mainly small spiders,
beetles, or other insects; small worms and flies were also
noted, but none was specifically identified.
WOODFECKERS.
This family comprises a highly specialized group of birds,
the more typical of which are peculiarly fitted to secure their
food by digging into the trunks or limbs of trees, in search
of ants and other wood-boring insects which cut channels
under the bark and into the wood. The feet of most Wood-
peckers are four-toed, two toes being disposed in front and
two behind. Some species, however, have but three toes.
The tail is composed of stiff, hard feathers, with strong shafts.
These modifications of the foot and tail assist the bird in
climbing perpendicularly and in clinging to the bark of trees.
While climbing or feeding, the two pairs of toes with their
strong, sharp claws enable the bird to grip the bark and hold
on, while the strong, sharp-pointed quills of the tail serve
as a brace or support. The bird is thus more fully equipped
for climbing than a telegraph lineman. The claws and tail
take the place of the man’s hands and spurs. But the Wood-
pecker’s tools for drilling into the wood and extracting its
living food are more wonderful than its climbing apparatus.
If any one who had never heard of a Woodpecker were to
be told that the bird drilled holes into the solid wood by
heating its head against a tree, he would be likely to regard
the story as fiction. Nevertheless, that is very nearly what
the Woodpecker actually does. The highly specialized appa-
atus that will permit of such constant hammering of beak
and head against the trees without producing concussion of
the brain, or the least inconvenience or injury to the bird,
is certainly among the most wonderful features of bird
anatomy.
A moment’s reflection will convince any one that, unless
the Woodpecker’s skull were built on an unusual plan, it
could not withstand such hard and continuous hammering.
If we watch a Woodpecker drilling, we shall see that he
¢
eS
246 USHFUL BIRDS.
draws back his head and body to the greatest possible dis-
tance from the tree, and then strikes with all his force, send-
ing his strong beak powerfully into the wood. The skull of
the typical Woodpecker is very thick and hard. Its connec-
tion with the beak is strong, but at the same time springy,
and somewhat jar-deadening. The membrane which sur-
rounds the brain is very thick and strong.
Maurice Thompson says that no person can doubt, after
an examination of Woodpecker habits, that the birds are
hard of hearing. He apparently believes that the continual
concussion has deadened this sense. However this may be,
it has not interfered with the bird’s sight, which seems pre-
ternaturally keen.
The bill is shaped somewhat like a stout chisel, and is used
as one. It strikes out small chips, and so drills its way, if
necessary, even to the
heart of the tree; but
the most highly spe-
cialized organ of the
Woodpecker is its
tongue, which serves
as an accessory to the
bill in bringing to
Fig. 103.—Skull and tongue of Woodpecker. licht the deep-lurking
(From Samuels.) = F 2
enemies of the tree.
The subjoined cut of the Woodpecker’s skull (Fig. 103
shows the tongue slightly protruding from the open beak.
Ordinarily the tongue lies in the depression of the lower
mandible. It is slender, nearly round, and its upper sur-
face is covered with very minute
spines, directed backward ; its tip
is as hard as horn, with many
strong barbs, which make of it a Tig CiGae Sep sanaee coneneetn
weapon more effective in its way of Downy Woodpecker, much
: mm enlarged.
than a fish spear. The machinery
for thrusting it forth is most perfect. The bone of the
tongue, called the hyoid, has two branches which pass down-
ward and backward from the lower jaw, up and around the
back of the head, and over the top of the skull, where they
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 247
either pass into the nostrils and so on in channels down
toward the end of the upper mandible of the beak, or, turn-
ing to one side, coil themselves about the bony part of the
eyeball. These branches of the hyoid are enclosed in
sheaths which fit into a groove on the top of the skull. By
means of this apparatus the tongue may be extended so
that, in the Hairy Woodpecker, it may reach an inch and
a half beyond the end of the bill. The tongue is propelled
forward at need by powerful muscles, so that when the bird
has drilled to the burrow of a boring beetle it can open the
beak slightly, protrude the tongue, spear the insect and
draw it out and into the mouth. Birds which possess such
implements for the destruction of boring insects must be
immensely serviceable to man, for borers are difficult for
man to control.
The utility of Woodpeckers is now quite generally recog-
nized by foresters, and by entomologists who study forest in-
sects. Dr. A. D. Hopkins, the most active and experienced
forest entomologist in the United States, is quoted by Dr.
E. P. Felt as asserting that Woodpeckers are the most im-
portant enemies of spruce bark beeties, and appear to be of
inestimable value to the spruce timber interests of the north-
east. Dr. Hopkins also states that Woodpeckers are the
principal enemies of the destructive sap-wood borers.
It is sometimes argued that Woodpeckers are of little use
as protectors of trees, since they never dig into living wood.
This reasoning is based on an error, due to
lack of careful observation. Nuttall speaks
of a Flicker that dug a nest hole eighteen
inches deep in a green sassafras. Dr. Hop-
kins figures a section of a living tree in which
a hole four inches long, two wide, and five
deep had been made by Woodpeckers in their
search for boring larve. According to the Fig.105.—A pine
borer.
annual wood rings around the entrance of the
cavity, the tree recovered and lived at least fifteen years after
the bird captured the borers. The work of Woodpeckers on
living trees does not ordinarily attract much notice. They
seldom need to dig far into live trees for borers, for most
248 USEFUL BIRDS.
species that infest live trees are found during a part or all of
their lives just under the bark or in the sap-wood not very
far from the surface; and the Woodpecker can drill a small
hole into the burrow, insert its open beak, and
with its tongue spear and extract the insect.
The wound soon heals, leaving no noticeable
trace. A Woodpecker may thus reach insects
at a depth of from one to four inches, aceord-
ing to the size of the bird. Dead trees, how-
ever, are riddled with borers in all their parts,
Fig. 106.—Pales and the birds are obliged to delve deeply to
weevil,adestrue- find them; therefore, the work of the birds
tive pine insect, ‘ ; c
eaten by Wood. in dead trees is most noticeable.
Lege The chief value of the Woodpeckers con-
sists in the fact that when they find a tree infested with bor-
ers they are likely to keep at work upon it until no more
larve can be found. Thus they often save the tree, and
check an incipient outbreak of borers. Woodpeckers so en-
gaged sometimes destroy parasites of boring insects. Such
destruction of useful insects by these birds is of little conse-
quence; for when the birds destroy the grubs, the parasites
are not needed. When the birds are too few in numbers to
prevent an increase of boring insects, the parasites also have
a similar immunity from the attacks of birds, and so are free
to exert their influence in restraining the borers. If Wood-
peckers should eat an undue number of parasites, they might
then be doing harm; but such cases probably seldom occur.
The Woodpeckers are also useful in providing homes for
other birds. Most Woodpeckers each year hollow out from
the wood a home for their young, and rarely, if ever, use it
more than one season. Some species, of which the Downy
and the Hairy Woodpeckers are familiar examples, also
excavate holes to which they retire for shelter during winter
nights. The larger Woodpeckers often make deep holes in
dead trees while digging out large borers or colonies of ants.
When the carpenter birds are through with these cavities
they are sometimes used as nesting places by other birds
that are unable to excavate for themselves. The deserted
nests of the Downy Woodpecker are used by the Wren, the
PLATE XX.— Downy Woodpecker at Nest Hole. (Photograph,
from life, by C. A. Reed.) (From American Ornithology.)
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 249
Chickadee, or even the Tree Swallow; those of the Hairy
Woodpecker may be used by Bluebirds, Martins, or Swal-
lows; those of the Flicker by the Screech Owl and the Wood
Duck. The excavations made by Woodpeckers in securing
insects are often used by the Chickadee or the Wren.
Notwithstanding their usefulness, however, the Wood-
peckers have been subject to the most senseless and unjust
persecution for many years, merely because a single species,
which rarely breeds in Massachusetts, feeds largely on the
sap and cambium layer of both fruit trees and forest trees.
This species (the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker) has not the
strong, barbed tongue of the typical Woodpeckers.
Eight species of Woodpecker occur in Massachusetts, but
only two, the Downy Woodpecker and the Flicker, are com-
mon residents throughout the State. The Hairy Wood-
pecker is also common, though less so than the others, and
more local. All other species are usually rare migrants,
except the Sapsucker, which is seen regularly in spring and
fall, and the Pileated Woodpecker, which is local.
It is a popular error to speak of all Woodpeckers as either
Sapsuckers or Red-headed Woodpeckers. The males of all
our Woodpeckers have red on the back of the head or nape ;
but the Red-headed Woodpecker has the head, throat, and
neck red all round. Although once common locally in Mas-
sachusetts, it is now rare ordinarily, and seldom breeds in
the State. The birds now generally known in Massachu-
setts as “Red-headed Woodpeckers” are the species herein-
after described under their proper names.
Downy Woodpecker.
Dryobates pubescens medianus.
Length. — About six and one-half inches.
Adult Male. — Upper parts black, striped, and barred with white; a small scarlet
patch at the back of the head.
Adult Female. — Similar, but without the scarlet on head.
Young.— The scarlet patch in the male gives place to reddish-brown.
Nest.—In a hole made by the birds in a dead stump or limb.
Eggs.— White.
Season. — Resident.
This sprightly little bird, the smallest of the Woodpeckers,
is also the most useful. It is found commonly throughout
250 USHFUL BIRDS.
most of the State wherever trees grow. Its sharp, clear, in-
cisive notes are aptly compared by Chapman to the ring of
a marble quarrier’s chisel. Its only approach to a musical
performance is its resonant drumming on a sounding hollow
limb or bird box. This habit, which it has in common with
other Woodpeckers, seems to be resorted to out of pure
exuberance of joy and vigorous life ; it is, with this carpenter
bird, a fitting substitute for song.
The nesting cavity is wrought out with happy labor in some
dead limb. The entrance is just large enough to admit the
owner by tight squeezing, and the interior is trimmed into
graceful curves, rounding at the bottom into a receptacle for
the snowy eggs. The birds sometimes carry the chips away,
but are often careless of concealment, and let them fall about
the foot of the tree.
Downy isa bird of the old orchard in summer. He prefers
to inhabit trees that are neglected by their owners, and
assumes the self-appointed guardianship of such trees in the
happiest frame of mind imaginable. He does this for the
reason that these neglected orchards harbor a host of insects
and vermin, in the destruction of which he revels. Under
those scales of bark there lurk in early spring the larvee of
the codling moth, which pass the winter in their loosely spun
cocoons. Downy knows just where to find them. He circles
the trunk and limbs, climbs up or comes down backward,
and ever and anon he taps and sounds the bark, until the
tell-tale vibration given back by the scale above the cocoon
corroborates the evidence of his eyes. Every stroke with
which he knocks on the door of an insect’s retreat sounds
the crack of doom. He pierces the bark with his beak,
then with his barbed tongue drags forth the insect, and
moves on to tap the last summons on the door of the next
in line. Now and then an intelligent bird carries the warfare
against the apple worm still farther, and pecks the fruit upon
the tree ; but, so far as my experience goes, he attacks only
wormy fruit, and when he has the worm he leaves the apple.
Dr. Trimble, in his book entitled “Insects Injurious to
Fruits,” asserts that he found numerous instances where the
bird had penetrated the cocoons of the codling moth,
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 251
Dr. Rufus H. Petit, entomologist of the Michigan Experi-
ment Station, says that in almost every case where cocoons
of this insect were concealed under flakes of bark the birds
had found them. “Such pierced cocoons,” he says, “are the
common thing in our orchards, especially where they have
been above the snow line.” Fig. 107,
which is drawn from a reproduction of
his photograph, shows the inner surface
of a flake of bark, the remains of a
cocoon attached, and the hole made by
the bill of the bird.
A large part of the food of this Wood-
pecker, while in the orchard, consists
of wood-boring beetles, their larve, Wigs 107.0. Cocoon oteed.
and various bark beetles and weevils. ling moth, pierced by
Hardly another bird, excepting the suc- ee
ceeding species, can compete with this in destroying borers,
such as the round-headed apple borer, that infest fruit trees.
In securing these insects it never does the trees any percep-
tible harm. In many cases it perforates the bark of apple
trees with small, roundish holes, less than an inch apart,
disposed in parallel horizontal rings. Nuttall says that these
holes are made for the purpose of drink-
ing sap from the trees. But this work is
not done for the sake of the sap, if, as
Fig. 108.—Apple tree Wilson says, it is always performed in
borer. y
the fall, at a time when the sap is not flow-
ing; possibly the bird takes out bits of the cambium layer ;
Wilson believed it was delving for Insects ; but whatever the
reason, the trees so perforated seem to be invigorated rather
than injured by the process, which is not the case with trees
similarly attacked by the true Sapsucker. The holes made
by the Sapsucker are different in shape, being square rather
than round.
Townend Glover, formerly entomologist to the United
States Department of Agriculture, stated that he observed
the Downy making a number of small, rough-edged perfora-
tions in the bark of an ash tree, and found that wherever the
bark had been thus injured the young larva of a wood-eating
252 USEFUL BIRDS.
beetle had been snugly coiled underneath, and had been de-
stroyed by the bird, thus proving conclusively to his mind
that these holes are made for the purpose of finding insect
food.
But Downy does not confine his attacks to the hidden
enemies of trees; he takes caterpillars and weevils from
twigs, buds, and branches. His young are largely fed on
caterpillars of various sorts. Ants and plant lice — those
ill-assorted masters and servants —are slaughtered in im-
mense numbers.
The following, from Mr. Kirkland’s notes, exhibits this
bird as a destroyer of the woolly aphis : —
While in Amherst, Oct. 20, 1895, I was able to approach to within
six to eight feet of a Downy Woodpecker which was feeding on a small
apple tree. The bird was busy hunting the twigs over for food. I saw
it eat a number of leaf miners’ (Tineid) cocoons, which were attached
to the small twigs. ~Some of these were undoubtedly Bucculatrix pomi-
foliclla. Other cocoons were not oblong, but elliptical; nearly all
cocoons contained a small green larya. A subsequent examination of
twigs which the bird had searched showed that the cocoons it had left
were parasitized. On the tree were many bark lice (Zylilaspis pomo-
rum), but I did not see the bird feed on them. The fact of greatest in-
terest to me was that the bird apparently sought out the small cavities
(made by pruning) on the branches, and fed upon the woolly aphis
(Schizoneura lanigera), which had clustered in masses in the cavities.
This aphis sometimes does considerable damage to apple trees. Mr.
Frost is of the opinion that the aphis also prevents the healing over of
wounds made by pruning. It is a well-known fact that clusters of this
aphis commonly occur on the callus which develops around wounds,
apparently making it their feeding ground.
The imagoes of nocturnal moths that rest on trees during
the day are taken by this bird, and he eats the eggs of many
insects. He may well be regarded as one of the best of the
feathered friends of the orchardist. But it is in the woods
and among the shade trees that the good qualities of the
Downy come out strongest.
When the Metropolitan Park Commission first began to
set out young trees along the parkways near Boston, some
species of trees were attacked by numerous borers; but the
Downy Woodpeckers found them out and extracted the grubs,
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 253
saving most of the trees. The cut (Fig. 109) shows a por-
tion of the top of one of these trees, riddled by the borer.
The knife-cut at the bottom exposes their galleries. The
small perforations along the stem were made by
the Woodpecker in extracting the grubs.
_ The untiring industry of this bird and the per-
fection of its perceptive powers may be shown
by the experience of Mr. Bailey. On March 28,
1899, a Downy Woodpecker that he watched
climbed over and inspected one hundred and
eighty-one woodland trees between 9.40 a.m.
and 12.15 p.m., and made twenty-six excava-
tions for food. Most of these holes exposed gal-
leries in the trunks or in high branches where
wood-boring ants were hiding. The openings
that the bird drilled in piercing one of these
tunnels in a branch some thirty-five feet from
the ground are shown in Fig. 110. It had un-
covered dormant black ants, and in each case had
pierced their
burrow at
the exact spot
where they were
gathered. These
wood-boring ants
often gain an entrance
at some unprotected
spot on a living tree, and
so excavate the wood of the
trunk that the tree is blown
down by the wind. This Wood-
pecker acts as a continual check
on the increase of such ants.
; The delicacy of that sense of touch or
Fig. 110.—Downy Ane = 5
Woodpecker and audition by which the bird was enabled to
bis Werk: locate those motionless insects in their hid-
den burrow must ever command our admi ration, unendowed
as we are with such delicate perceptive powers.
Another Downy Woodpecker was seen on March 31 taking
254 USEFUL BIRDS.
the larvee of boring beetles from beneath the bark of oak trees.
The bird seemed to know the exact spot at which to drill for
each larva, for it always cut a small hole directly over the
insect. The cut (Fig. 111) gives a view of the outer surface
of a section of bark taken from a small oak. From this small
piece of bark the
bird probably se-
cured at least six
of the larve that
were found in its
stomach. The
holes at a, 0, ¢,
d, e, f, indicate
those from which
the larve were
taken. Fig. 112
gives a view of
the inner surface
of the same piece
of bark, showing
how true was the
stroke of the
bird, for its beak,
piercing from the
outside, went di-
rectly to the cen-
ter of the burrow
where the dormant insects lay, entirely hidden from view.
The letters a, 6, c, d, e, f; indicate the holes where the
bird’s beak came through to the inner surface. Twelve
ants and seventeen larve of boring beetles were found in
Hig ale
its stomach.
The Downy Woodpecker is one of the most useful of all
birds to the lumberman, for it feeds on such destructive
insects as the bronze birch borer, the maple borer, and the
pine weevil, —an insect of such importance that its habits
merit some description here. This little insect (Pessodes
strobi) deposits its eggs on the topmost shoots of the finest
and most vigorous young white pines, and the young larvee
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 255
eat away the wood, and thus destroy the leading shoot or
main stem of the tree. As the side shoots grow upward
they also are attacked, and the tree is ruined for timber.
Instead of growing a tall, straight trunk, it grows straggling
branches. Quite often the leading shoot of a tree is attacked
Fig. 118.— Pine top killed by pine Fig. 114.— Tree crooked and ruined for
weevil. timber by pine weeyil.
in this way year after year. Each attack results in a crook
in the trunk, and the tree when grown is fit only for kindling
wood. Perhaps no insect is a greater pest to the lumbernian
than this. While examining the work of this insect in a
fine grove of young white pines I saw that many of the bur-
rows had been perforated by birds, and the grubs extracted.
It appears that Dr. Fitch also noticed this, for he says that
small birds are very efficient in ferreting out and devouring
256 USEFUL BIRDS.
the larve and pupe of this weevil. He does not, however,
name the birds.!
I have seen many shoots from which this insect had been
removed by birds, and most of them showed the character-
istic work of this Woodpecker. Some other Woodpeckers
and the Chickadee are probably useful in this respect. The
Downy Woodpecker hunts borers to the very twigs. Mr.
Kirkland saw a mother bird pecking away at twigs infested
by the oak pruner, taking out the larve and feeding them
to her young.
There is some reason for calling the Downy a sapsucker.
Occasionally he is accused of tapping the smaller limbs and
twigs of maples and other trees for their sap. Nuttall says
he has seen the bird drinking sap from the trees, and that it
bores into the wax myrtle for that purpose. I have never
been able to observe this, and ornithologists generally deny
that it is a fact. But Mr. Bailey’s observations seem to
prove that the farmer is not altogether wrong in his appella-
tion of the bird. The habit, however, seems to be not a
common one. Mr. Bailey’s experience has been spoken of
in a paper read before the American Ornithologists’ Union,
and in another published in the annual report of the secretary
of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture for 1900 ;
but I am now able to present cuts from drawings of two
stems tapped by the Downy, which show the ingenious
method employed by the bird, also how its perforations
differ from those made by the Sapsucker. The quotation
from Mr. Bailey’s field notes follows : —
At 12.30 I found a Downy Woodpecker, and watched him till 2.45 ;
he took three laryze from a maple stub, just under the bark. He next
tapped two small swamp maples, four and six feet from the ground,
and spent most of the time taking sap. He tapped the tree by pecking
it a few times very lightly; it looked like a slight cut, slanting a little.
The bird would sit and peck the sap out of the lower part of the cut.
The cut was so small the sap did not collect very fast. The bird would
go and sit for a long time in a large tree, then it would come back and
take more sap. It did this three times while I was watching it. It did
1 Insects Injurious to Forest and Shade Trees, by A. S. Packard. Fifth
Report of the United States Entomological Commission, quotation from Fitch,
p. 740.
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 257
not care to take any food but the sap. I could get within six feet of
the bird without any trouble while it was taking sap. It then left and
went into a large tree, and I lost it; but if I had stayed by the tree I
think it would have come back before night, as it had done when I was
watching it, for it was gone half an hour at one time.
The two young trees that were tapped were red maples
(Acer rubrum). The incisions in each case were similar,
and from their appearance we may as-
sume that the bird first struck its bill
into the bark from the right upward,
and then from
the left down-
ward, leaving a
small bridge of
bark to cover
the opening.
It then took
the sap by in-
serting its bill
at the lower
orifice, a, the
upper one, 6,
allowing the
free entrance of
air to facilitate
the flow of the
sap out of the
lower at a.
The vegetable
food OF thas
Woodpecker
is varied and
rather small in
quantity. In
Fig 116.
spring it eats a
few buds and petals of flowers ; some berries, such as June-
berries and wild strawberries, in summer; and in fall and
winter it eats pokeberries, poison ivy, sumac, mullein, and
other seeds. Frozen apples are eaten in winter. According
258 USEFUL BIRDS.
to Professor Beal, Dr. Merriam found the stomachs of four
birds filled with beechnuts, and has seen this species eat the
berries of the mountain ash. It eats bayberries also.
Hairy Woodpecker.
Dryobates villosus.
Length. — About nine and one-half inches.
Adult.— Quite similar to the Downy Woodpecker, but much larger; the bill pro-
portionately longer.
Nest. — A hole cut in a tree by the bird.
Eggs. — White.
Season. — Resident.
The Hairy Woodpecker, like the preceding species, lives
to such an extent on the grubs of boring beetles and on
wood-boring ants that it can find food at all times of the
year. In very cold winters,
however, when the trees are
solidly frozen for months, both
these species find it difficult to
dig out borers from living trees.
In the winter of 1903-04, which
was exceedingly cold, the
Woodpeckers were compelled
to work on dry limbs and fence
rails, wood piles, and any dry
Fig. 117.—Hairy Woodpecker, male, timber they could find. They
about one-half natural size. : .
do not disdain to help them-
selves to waste meat, fat, or suet in winter.
The Hairy Woodpecker is less common than the Downy,
but individually is about as useful. Its sharp, clicking notes
much resemble those of its smaller congener, but they are
stronger, and have a wilder sound. The bird may be easily
recognized by its large size and its vigorous, rapid move-
ments. Like all Woodpeckers, its flight is rather undulat-
ing, as though, by reason of its excess of vigor, it could not
help leaping and bounding through the air. It is usually
shyer than the Downy, and is found more in timber lands
than in orchards ; but becomes tamer where it is not molested
by man, and sometimes breeds in the orchard.
Maurice Thompson says that this bird strikes its bill into
SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 259
the wood and then for an instant holds the point of one
mandible in the dent thus made, while it listens for the
movements of the borer. He contends that the vibrations
produced by the insect in the wood are conveyed through
the bill of the bird to its brain.
This bird eats less animal food in proportion to its vege-
table food than does the Downy Woodpecker ; and accord-
ing to Professor Beal it eats more beetles, more caterpillars,
and less ants, than does its smaller relative. Beetles and
their larvee form fully one-third of its insect food, and a large
part of these consists of the larger wood-boring insects. — Its
special usefulness inheres in its large size, its long beak and
tongue, and its power of drilling deep into the trees and
extracting from trunks and branches the larger pernicious
borers. In this respect the bird is more nearly indispensa-
ble to the forester and orchardist than any other bird of the
State, except perhaps the Pileated Woodpecker, which is so
local as to be of much less value generally. Mr. J. M.
Baskett tells of some Siberian crab trees in his yard that were
attacked by borers. One of the trees died ; but a Hairy
Woodpecker came, worked diligently, and cleaned out all the
erubs, thus saving the remaining trees.
This Woodpecker is often quite destructive to hairy cat-
erpillars, and feeds its young on noxious larvie of many
species. It also attacks the pup or chrysalids of many in-
jurious moths, among them those of the gipsy moth. Moths
that hibernate in cocoons during the winter are particularly
exposed to the attacks of this Woodpecker. Dr. F. M.
Webster states that he saw one of these birds peck through
the cocoon of the cecropia moth, and deyour the contents.
On examining more than a score of these cocoons, he found
only two uninjured by the bird. Ants, grasshoppers, and
spiders are eaten.
Its vegetable food is much like that of the Downy, but is
consumed in much larger quantity. It sometimes takes a
little corn; in summer it feeds much on wild cherries, and
in the fall on wild grapes to some extent. Like the Downy,
it eats a little of the inner bark or cambium from the tree
trunks, and possibly may take some sap.
260 USHFUL BIRDS.
While this bird often excavates a hole for a winter shelter,
it sometimes sleeps exposed on a tree trunk. Mr. Bailey
and I once watched one that slept for many winter nights on
the north side of a tree trunk in a thick grove. It attached
its claws to the bark and went to sleep in much the same
position in which it ordinarily climbed the tree. It inva-
riably went to the same tree at night, and was found in the
same place at daylight each morning.
Northern Flicker. Golden-winged Woodpecker. Pigeon Woodpecker.
Yellow Hammer. Partridge Woodpecker. Wake-up. Gaffer Wood-
pecker. High-hole, High-holder, etc.
Colaptes auratus luteus.
Length. — About twelve inches.
Adult Male.— Brown above; a scarlet crescent across the nape of the neck; top
and back of head gray; back and wings barred with black; rump white;
quill feathers of wings and tail black above, golden-yellow below; shafts
of both wing and tail feathers yellow; throat pinkish-brown, running to
buff on the breast, sides, and belly, which are marked with round black
dots; a black crescent on breast, and a black patch on each side of head
just below gape.
Adult Female.— Similar, but without the black ‘‘ mustache.”’
Nest.— A hole in a tree, from four to forty feet from the ground.
Eqgs.— Glossy white.
Season. — Resident; not very common in winter except in southeastern Massa-
chusetts.
The Flicker, our largest and most common Woodpecker, is
well known, in some one or more of its various forms, over
the greater part of temperate America. It has over thirty
vernacular names, a few of the most common of which are
given above.
in the nests of other birds. This habit seems to be common
to individuals of this and other species of Wren, but it has
been recorded so seldom in Massachusetts that no one need
hesitate to put up boxes for them. Unless something can
be done to provide for their increase, they are likely to
disappear from the State.
SPARROWS.
Some members of this group, particularly the Finches and
Grosbeaks, have been included in previous pages, among the
birds of orchard and woodland (see p. 215); the remaining
common species are mainly birds of the field that nest on
or near the ground, and get most of their food in fields,
gardens, or pastures.
Although they are all seed-eating birds, they live largely
on insects during spring and early summer, and their young
are fed mainly on such food. In fall and winter Sparrows feed
on the seeds of grains, grasses, and weeds, although they
are not then averse to insect food when they can find it.
Dr. Judd, in his important paper, “The Relation of Spar-
rows to Agriculture,” states that the value of these birds to
the agriculturist is greater “than that of any other group
whose economic status has thus far been investigated.” He
says, nevertheless, that the native Sparrows contrast markedly
in this respect with the introduced “ English” Sparrow, which
isa pest. The great bulk of the food of Sparrows consists
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 295
of seed, fruit, and insects. The native Sparrows destroy
very little grain, great quantities of weed seeds and insects,
and hardly any cultivated fruit; they are, therefore, almost
entirely harmiess. They frequent grass fields, cultivated
fields, and gardens, and in some cases orchards ; thus their
good work is done where it is of great benefit to the farmer.
Dr. Judd tells us that the food of Sparrows consists of
from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent. animal matter, and
from sixty-five to seventy-five per cent. vegetable matter ;
this is exclusive of the mineral matter, which is mostly
swallowed as an aid to digestion. Beneficial insects sel-
dom amount to more than two per cent. of the food; this
is a very low average. The Flycatchers and Swallows take a
very much larger per cent. of useful insects. Sparrows may
do some slight harm in distributing the seeds of weeds ; but,
as their stomachs grind the food most thoroughly, it is proba-
ble that very few seeds pass through the alimentary canal in
a condition to germinate.
On the other side of the account we find that insect pests
make up from ten to twenty per cent. of the year’s food;
these are mainly grasshoppers and cutworms, army worms
and their allies, and beetles, such as click beetles and weevils.
Bugs are eaten in small quantities. While nearly all the
native Sparrows eat Geometrid caterpillars, like the canker-
worms, only a few have been known to eat the hairy species.
Such weevils as injure clover and strawberries are destroyed
in large numbers; also some flea beetles and leaf-eating
beetles are eaten.
The young of Sparrows are almost entirely insectivorous
until they leave the nest; and, as many of these birds usually
rear at least two broods in a season, they do great good in
the gardens and fields while rearing their young.
When the good work of destroying insect pests is practi-
cally over for the season, the Sparrows turn at once to the
ripening seeds of weeds. The number of such seeds that a
single bird will eat in a day has never been ascertained ; but
a Tree Sparrow was found to have in its stomach seven hun-
dred seeds of pigeon grass, and a Snowflake had taken at
one meal a thousand seeds of pigweed. The Japanese mil-
296 USEFUL BIRDS.
let (Panicum crus-galli), a wild barnyard grass or weed
improved by cultivation, is much sought by birds. The
seed is larger than that of most weeds, and yet a single
Sparrow will eat a large number ina day. During the hard
winter of 1903—04 about thirty Sparrows came to our window
to feed on this seed, which was there supplied to them. Sey-
eral hours of each morning and afternoon were thus spent.
As they were constantly moving and changing positions, it
was difficult to follow any one bird more than a few minutes
at a time; nevertheless, some accurate figures were obtained
regarding the number of seeds eaten in a given time by cer-
tain birds. A Fox Sparrow ate one hundred and three seeds
in two minutes and forty-seven seconds. There were five
Juncos eating at about the same rate all this time. A Song
Sparrow ate thirty-four seeds in one minute, ten seconds ;
a Junco ate twenty-eight in forty-eight seconds; another,
sixty-six in one minute, eleven seconds; another, one hun-
dred and ten in three minutes, forty-five seconds; while a
Song Sparrow ate one hundred and fifty-four in the same
length of time. This Song Sparrow had been eating for about
half an hour before the count began, and continued for some
time after it was finished. A Junco ate ninety-three seeds in
two minutes, fifteen seconds; and another ate seventy-nine
in two minutes, twenty seconds. It is readily seen that
thirty seeds a minute was below the average for these birds ;
and if each bird ate at that rate for but a single hour each
day, he would destroy eighteen hundred seeds each day, or
twelve thousand, six hundred a week. There were many
days, when the ground was covered with snow, that certain
birds spent several hours each day eating seeds at my win-
dow. This we know, for there were but two Fox Sparrows
and two Song Sparrows in the neighborhood, and all four
were often at the window at the same time. Most of the
day the birds, when not at the window, were picking up such
seeds as they could get elsewhere from the weeds about the
place or from the chaff and hayseed provided. They ate
more than a bushel of seed at the window, besides all the weed
seeds they found elsewhere. Moreover, they ate hayseed that
they picked up in the barn and sheds, and fine particles of
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. ass ie
grain and small seeds that they found in the poultry yards
and seratching-sheds. When Professor Beal states his belief
that the Tree Sparrows in the State of Iowa eat eight hundred
and seventy-five tons of weed seeds in a winter, it seems, in
view of our experience, a low estimate.
Not far from the house was a patch of Japanese millet about
ten rods long by one wide. This was allowed to stand until
fully ripe, and then reaped and threshed out for the seed.
As it stood a little too long, much seed fell and was left on
the ground for the birds, — probably two bushels or more.
During the winter they cleaned this up so thoroughly that
only about a dozen stalks sprang up the next spring at one
end of the patch.
When Sparrows flock normally about a weed patch, they
gather up nearly ninety per cent. of the seed during a winter ;
but when more are attracted by extra food, they often get
nearly all the seeds, as they did that year about our garden.
Dr. Judd examined a rectangular space of eighteen inches
where Sparrows had been feeding in a smartweed thicket.
He found eleven hundred and thirty mutilated seeds, and
only two whole ones. No smartweed grew there the follow-
ing year. Sparrows were still feeding on these and similar
seeds on May 13, and a diligent search showed only half a
dozen whole seeds in the field. Weed seeds form more than
half the food of mature Sparrows for the year.
This great group of birds comprises species of such varied
habits that it is represented everywhere. Sparrows, Finches,
Grosbeaks, or Buntings are found not only in the woods,
fields, and city streets, but in swamps and marshes, and
among the desert sand hills of Cape Cod and Ipswich. They
range from the mountain top to the sea level, and from the
shores of the sea to the farthest western boundary of the
State ; even at sea migrating Sparrows are sometimes seen,
for they not only cross wide bays and estuaries, but they
visit remote islands, and are sometimes blown out to sea.
In the following pages some of the more common and
useful species will be considered. The “English” Sparrow
will be treated among the enemies of birds.
298 USEFUL BIRDS.
Indigo Bunting. Indigo Bird.
Cyanospiza cyanea.
Length. — About five and one-half inches.
Adult Male.— Bright, lustrous indigo-blue, deepest on head, and often with a
greenish tinge; wings and tail dark brown, with blue marks and tints.
Adult Female and Young.— Upper parts light brown, sometimes faintly, but
never prominently, streaked; under parts brownish-gray ; breast and sides
faintly streaked.
Nest. — In low bush.
Eggs.— White.
Season. — May to September.
This bright blue Bunting is one of the most brilliant of
northern birds. The color of the male is so dark that at
a distance it seems almost black. The
male requires three years to attain full
plumage. It frequents bushy pastures,
sprout lands, and old fruit gardens
grown up to weeds. In late August
and September it is seen in sweet-corn
Fig. 129.—Indigo Bunt-
ing, male, about one-half
HAP EIe Its song is a rather rich and_pleas-
patches or cornfields.
ing refrain, with a metallic ring or jingle. A few notes
seem to exhaust its vocabulary and its breath at the same
time, but it is soon ready to try again. Perseverance is its
unfailing virtue, for it sings, intermittently, all through the
long, hot summer day. Its alarm note is a sharp chip.
It feeds more on the caterpillars that infest trees and
bushes than do most Sparrows, and takes many such larve to
its young. It is fond of grasshoppers,
and takes some insects from the garden.
It eats the birch plant louse with avidity.
A few flies, mosquitoes, or gnats are
taken; cankerworms and other measur- “s=2—
ing worms, the larvee of several species of pig. 130.— Indigo Bunt.
butterflies, and the imagoes of nocturnal ing; female:
and Tineid moths, with small beetles of different species, con-
stitute a portion of its insect food. The larger part of its food
consists of seeds, many of which are those of weeds. During
its short stay with us it is one of the few useful species seen
much about the garden, and is of some service in the orchard.
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. Zoo
Song Sparrow. Ground Sparrow. Ground Bird.
Melospiza cinerea melodia.
Length. — About six and one-half inches.
Adult Male.— Above, brown; the back streaked with a darker shade; top of
head reddish-brown, mottled with blackish streaks; a streak of light gray
through center of crown and one over the eye; a dark line through eye
and two on the lower jaw; breast and sides whitish, spotted with dark
brown, the spots usually massed in the center of breast, where they form a
large spot or cluster; tail rounded and rather long.
Nest. — Usually on ground or in bush, rarely in tree.
Eggs.— Whitish, endlessly varied with browns.
Season. — Resident, but not common in winter.
Few birds are better known than the Song Sparrow, and
few are better friends to man. Those who do not know the
bird will recognize it as the sweet singer of March and
April, witha large blotch in the middle
of its spotted breast. It prefers moist
land near water, and may be found
along the banks of brooks and_ the
shores of ponds or rivers. The nest
is often sunk in the sloping bank of
some brook or ditch. According to
Thoreau, its song, as expressed by the
country people, runs thus: “Maids!
i 5 é ; Fig. 181.—Song Sparrow,
maids : maids : hang on your tea- about two-thirds natural
size.
kettle-ettle-ettle.” It has a charac-
teristic chenk, evidently an alarm note, and several other
notes.
The Song Sparrow is at home in rich, moist gardens, and
feeds among crops like cabbage and celery, which are often
raised on lowlands. It is destructive to cabbage plant lice
and cutworms. It eats some caterpillars of the gipsy moth,
the brown-tail moth, and several of the hairless pests among
the Geometrids. Leaf hoppers and spittle insects, grasshop-
pers, locusts, crickets, and click beetles are among the pests
that it destroys. It picks up a few snails and aquatic in-
sects around the water. Flies and their larve are relished.
EKarthworms and spiders are frequently taken. Only two
per cent. of the food consists of useful insects ; injurious
species make up eighteen per cent. The vegetable food
300 USEFUL BIRDS,
consists of small fruit, mostly wild, four per cent. of grain,
mostly waste, picked up in the fields, while fifty per cent.
of the entire food of the year is composed of the seeds of
weeds. Dr. Judd remarks that the chief value of this bird
as a seed-eater lies in its habit of eating the seeds of polyg-
onum; these seeds are not so much eaten by other birds.
But the Song Sparrow eats the seed of chickweed, purslane,
sorrel, dandelion, and dock, all of which are common in
Massachusetts gardens. More than half the grass seed eaten
belongs to such troublesome species as crab grass and pigeon
erass. Witch grass and barnyard grass are among the seeds
that are often freely eaten by this useful bird.
The Song Sparrow sometimes learns to come about the
door for crumbs. 5 is. .— White-
in April or during the first part of May. es ae
i= . throated Sparrow,
The great body of the White-throats usually — one-half natural
3 . : size.
passes through the State within three weeks
in spring and fall. They find shelter in brush piles, thickets,
or shrubbery, where they scratch about among dry leaves on
the ground.
308 USEFUL BIRDS.
The alarm note is a metallic ch¢zp; and the song, which is
often heard in May, is a sweet whistled strain, which has
been rendered “Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody,” and
from this fancied resemblance to these words it is called the
Peabody Bird.
In May, when the White-throat passes north, it is of some
service in the destruction of beetles. In the fall it feeds to
some extent on berries and berry seeds, but its main useful-
ness at this season lies in the destruction of weed seeds.
It is very fond of the seeds of ragweed and polygonum.
Dr. Judd says that in October (when these birds are com-
mon in Massachusetts) ragweed seed constitutes forty-five
per cent. of their food.
Grasshopper Sparrow. Yellow-winged Sparrow.
Coturniculus savannarum passerinus.
Length. — About five inches.
Adult. — Upper parts generally brown, streaked with black on back, much varie-
gated, quail-like, and mixed with gray on rump; crown very dark, with a
buffy line through it; a buffy-yellow stripe over eye; under parts buff,
fading to whitish on the belly; no noticeable breast streaks; wings below
the bend edged with bright yellow, ordinarily concealed from view ; tail
short.
Young.— Similar, but breast streaked with blackish.
Nest. — On ground.
Eggs.— White, brown-spotted.
Season. — May to September.
The Grasshopper Sparrow is common locally in eastern
Massachusetts, but rare or wanting in many localities. In the
southeastern part of the State it is hardly locally common,
except in Nantucket. It is found through middle and south-
ern Worcester County and in the Connecticut valley, and is
probably much more common than is generally believed, as
it is never conspicuous, and is largely confined to the open
fields, where it readily hides in the grass. Minot says “they
frequent almost exclusively dry fields, particularly such as do
not contain a luxuriant vegetation.” While this appears to
be true of eastern Massachusetts, where many neglected fields
are of that character, it is not altogether true of Worcester
County. Although this Sparrow is never found in swamps,
it is seen occasionally in meadows, and often inhabits fertile
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 309
grass lands and cultivated fields. Many years ago, in West-
borough, I found two nests of this species while hoeing in
potato fields, and the birds were then common in a stretch
of fertile rolling fields and meadows east of Worcester.
It is never found habitually in meadows, however, like that
closely related species, Henslow’s Sparrow; for, while the
latter, so far as I have observed, always breeds in wet land,
the Grasshopper Sparrow breeds on the slopes near by. I
have never seen Henslow’s Sparrow on the drier land ex-
cept near Amherst; and the Grasshopper Sparrow is rarely
seen in wet spots, even where the two species occupy the
same fields. While these two Sparrows are locally common,
neither of them is generally so. They resemble each other
so closely that it is rather difficult to distinguish them in the
field except by their notes and their habitat. The streaks
on the breast of the Henslow’s Sparrow will identify it when
they can be seen. The notes, however, are quite different.
The common note of the Henslow’s Sparrow somewhat re-
sembles the syllable /ee’ chich. When its nest is approached,
the bird will allow the observer to get within a few feet, as
it moves through the grass like a mouse, reiterating this note.
The ordinary notes of the Grasshopper Sparrow are a chirr,
like the note of an insect, and a sharp chich. The song,
which is often uttered from the top of a wall, a fence, or a
stone in the field, much resembles the stridulation of a long-
horned grasshopper, and gives the bird its name. The lay is
very weak, and often passes unnoticed, or is mistaken for the
song of some insect. Minot gives it as chic/-chic!-a-see, with
a very
the chief accent on the last and highest syllable,
good description.
The food of this bird while in Massachusetts is probably
about seventy-five per cent. animal matter, largely insects.
This Sparrow is very destructive to cutworms, army worms,
wireworms, click beetles, weevils, and grasshoppers : spiders,
myriapods, snails, and earthworms are eaten in small quanti-
ties. It eats no cultivated fruit, very little grain, and some
seeds of grasses and weeds. It takes fully forty times as
many injurious as beneficial insects, and is one of the most
useful birds of the fields.
310 USEFUL BIRDS.
Savanna Sparrow.
Passerculus sandwichensis savanna.
Length. — About five and one-half inches.
Adult. — Brown above ; feathers generally pale (or gray) edged, and dark-streaked ;
a narrow whitish stripe through crown, and a yellow line above the eye;
white or buffy below, thickly streaked with dusky; a cluster of streaks
on the breast is sometimes gathered into a blotch, as in the Song Sparrow,
but the tail is short and notched, rather than long and rounded, as in the
Song Sparrow, and not noticeably marked.
Young. — Similar; colors more suffused ; no yellow over eye.
Nest.— On ground.
Eggs.— Bluish-white, marked thickly with brown.
Season.— April to November.
The Savanna Sparrow is a common summer resident along
portions of the seacoast, and through the central and western
parts of the State. It is found along river valleys, in upland
meadows, fertile fields, and pastures. In eastern and south-
ern Massachusetts it breeds only locally or near the coast,
but in Worcester County and through the central and western
parts of the State it is common in favorable localities.
Although a bird of the meadow or savanna, it is common
in many open fields and pastures of the hill country. It hasa
Sparrow-like chirp, but its notes and song otherwise much re-
semble those of insects, particularly the chirping of crickets,
although the song is perhaps a trifle more musical than that
of the Grasshopper Sparrow. Mr. Hoffman describes it well
as two or three preliminary chirps, followed by two long,
insect-like trills, the second a little lower in key than the
first, thus: ¢s7p, tsip, tsip, tseeeeeecee, tse-ce-ee-ee. The song
is often given from a stone, post, or fence. This bird is
rarely seen off the ground, an occasional perch on a stone
heap or fence being usually the only deviation from this rule ;
but it sometimes perches fifteen to twenty-five feet up in a
tree, or flies from tree to tree along the edge of a field. Al-
though it often lives and breeds in the hill country, it may
be seen in fresh-water marshes during migrations, and fre-
quents such spots as are dear to Rails and Swamp Sparrows.
In the south it is an inhabitant of wet fresh-water meadows
or savannas.
Nearly half the food of the Savanna Sparrow while in
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. ail
Massachusetts consists of insects, mainly injurious species,
such as are eaten by other Sparrows. It is particularly fond
of beetles. It eats more ants than do most Sparrows, many
cutworms, a few spiders, and some snails. The vegetable
food consists largely of the seeds of pigeon grass, panic
erass, wild rice, and marsh grasses.
Vesper Sparrow. Grass Finch. Bay-winged Bunting.
Powcetes gramineus.
Length. — About six inches.
Adult. — Above, grayish-brown, finely streaked with dusky; crown finely
streaked, but with no dividing line; cheeks buffy, with a dark patch ;
a narrow white eye ring; below, whitish (buffy where streaked) , narrowly
streaked with brown or black on breast and sides; a bay patch near the
bend of the wing; tail dark, moderately long; outer tail feathers white.
Nest. — On ground.
Eggs.— Dull white or buffy, with many spots, usually overlaid by large dark
marks and scrawls.
Season. — April to October.
The Vesper Sparrow is, next to the Song Sparrow, the
most abundant ground Sparrow in Massachusetts. — It is gen-
Fig. 139.— Vesper Sparrow, one-half natural size.
erally distributed wherever there are open fields and upland
pastures, but it is not a bird of the meadows, and is not as
common in some parts of southeastern Massachusetts as else-
312 USHFUL BIRDS.
where. It is not a dooryard bird, like the Chipping Spar-
row or Song Sparrow, but prefers upland fields, hill pastures,
and plowed lands, at some distance from the farm buildings.
It is sometimes seen in vegetable gardens.
It is not so closely confined to the ground as some other
ground Sparrows, but perches on ridgepoles, wires, and
trees. It frequently runs along the ground in pastures or
potato fields, keeping just ahead of the observer as he walks.
When the female is startled from her nest of young, she uses
all her arts to entice the intruder away, fluttering along the
ground with white-bordered tail spread conspicuously, and
dragging her wings as if sorely wounded, —a tempting bait
to lead the disturber away. The white outer feathers in the
tail are not often clearly visible when the bird is standing,
but usually may be seen when it flies.
The song of this bird, while perhaps less cheery than that
of the Song Sparrow, is sweeter, and seems to carry farther
as it floats down from the hills after sunset. The bird some-
times sings to greet the rising moon, and even flutters into
the air, like the Skylark, with an exquisite burst of song.
Mr. Burroughs has well named it the Vesper Sparrow. The
ordinary notes are the usual Sparrow-like chips and calls.
In summer most of the food of this bird consists of in-
sects, of which beetles and grasshoppers form the bulk.
Since it frequents pastures, it picks up many dung beetles ;
weevils, click beetles, ground beetles, and leaf beetles seem
otherwise to be preferred to other kinds. Grasshoppers
form the principal food in midsummer; cutworms are also
eaten, and the bird does good work as an insect eater in
field and garden. It is also useful as a destroyer of weed
seeds, eating less grass seed than some other Sparrows, but
a great variety of the seeds of weeds which it finds in corn-
fields and other fields, and in gardens.
BLACKBIRDS, GRACKLES, ETC.
This family has been mentioned on p. 224, and one of its
members, the Baltimore Oriole, has been described among
the birds of orchard and woodland (see pp. 224-228).
The Rusty Grackle is a mere migrant through the State
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 313
in spring and fall, and is not of much economic value here ;
therefore, its description is omitted. The other species of
the family will be considered here, for they all frequent
meadows, grass fields, or cultivated lands.
The Bronzed Grackle and the Purple Grackle are both
found in the State, but, as they are alike in form, notes, and
habits, they are both known as Crow Blackbirds, and will
not be treated separately.
Purple Grackle. Crow Blackbird.
Quiscalus quiscula.
Length. — Twelve to thirteen and one-half inches.
Adult Male.— Variously purple, green, blue, violet, and bronzy; wings and tail
mainly purplish; dark purplish or steel-blue on neck and breast; back
greenish or bronzy ; iris straw-yellow.
Adult Female. — Similar, but browner.
Nest.-— A bulky structure, often built in tall coniferous trees.
Eggs. — Greenish, spotted and streaked with black and brown.
Season.— March to November. (This form intermingles with the succeeding
one.)
Bronzed Grackle. Western Crow Blackbird.
Quiscalus quiscula eneus.
Adult Male. — Similar to above, but body brassy or bronzy; head, neck, and
upper breast mainly steel-blue; wings and tail violet and steel-blue.
Adult Female.— Similar to that of the Purple Grackle. Both the above forms
» look black at a distance, and then are not distinguishable from one an-
other; both forms have the tail long.
Nest, Eggs, and Season. — Like those of the Purple Grackle; winters rarely.
These birds, the largest of the family in Massachusetts, find
their normal habitat about meadows or marshes; but they
have taken kindly to civilization, and, where they are not
much persecuted, are common about lawns, fields, and gar-
dens. They may often be seen walking about on Boston
Common or in the Public Garden. They build their nests
in tall shade trees near suburban and city residences or about
cemeteries, and they frequent well-kept lawns. They are
so large and powerful that not even the Sparrow can drive
them out; and if the Sparrows attack their eggs or young,
the Blackbirds are not slow to retaliate with effect.
These birds are conspicuous, and when close at hand are
unmistakable. The tail is often held with its outer feathers
upturned like the sides of a boat, particularly when they fly,
314 USEFUL BIRDS.
which they do usually at some height, in rather a labored
manner, keeping about the same level. The ordinary note
is a sort of hoarse, loud chuck, and the song sounds much
like the rather musical creaking of arusty hinge. They have
also a metallic, jangling note, and when a number perch ona
favorite tree and sing in chorus,
the clanging and creaking they
produce are indescribable.
When not disturbed, they
breed in companies, often in
groves of white pine ; but where
they are much shot at, they
separate, and each pair finds a
secluded place for its nest. As
Fig. 140.—Crow Blackbird, male, soon as the young are reared,
one-half natural size. P < é
the birds gather in flocks of
hundreds or even thousands, and forage together. In mi-
gration they sometimes travel in immense armies.
USEFUL BIRDS.
which in August make over twenty-three per cent. of their
food, and are found and eaten by them in nearly every month
of the year. A good many caterpillars are eaten, mainly
those species that are found on the ground, such as cutworms
and army worms; but the birds flock to caterpillar outbreaks,
eating both hairy and hairless species. Crow Blackbirds de-
stroy both gipsy moth and brown-tail moth ; bugs, ants, and
spiders are eaten also. Mice, birds and eggs, frogs, lizards,
salamanders, snakes, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and snails
form a portion of the Grackles’ food. The vegetable food,
beside corn and other grains, consists of rather a small quan-
tity of fruit, mainly wild seeds, nuts, acorns, and weed seed.
Seventy per cent. of the food of the young birds consists
of insects similar to those eaten at the same season by their
parents.
To sum up: the Crow Blackbirds, though destructive to
corn and to a less extent to other grain, are indispensable
because of the vast amount of insects they destroy. In the
west they are so numerous that the farmer often must defend
himself against them; but in Massachusetts their destruc-
tion is not often necessary, and they are seldom shot by
husbandmen except when gathered in flocks among the corn.
Meadowlark. Old-field Lark. Marsh Quail.
Sturnella magna.
Length. — Ten to eleven inches.
Adult.— Upper parts brown, with many dark-streaked, pale-edged feathers; tail
short; outer tail feathers largely white; a light line through middle of
crown; a light line over eye, yellow from eye to bill, and dark streak
behind eye; below, chiefly yellow, with a large black crescent on breast.
Adult in Winter. —Redder above; lower parts duller.
Young. — Under parts paler; crescent replaced by a few black markings.
Nest.— On the ground in a field; usually arched over.
Eggs.— White, with brown spots.
Season. — Resident.
This handsome and well-known bird is a common summer
resident of Massachusetts, and often remains all winter in
seasons when there is little snow, or in favored localities.
In the southeastern part of the State, especially in Barnsta-
ble County, it may usually be seen in winter in sheltered
situations on marshes or meadows. During and after snow-
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 317
storms it becomes quite domesticated, and seeks food along
roads and about dooryards and poultry houses; but ordinarily
the Lark is a shy bird, and keeps well out of gunshot in the
open fields. This species has learned caution in the north
because of continual persecution by gunners; but I have
seen Meadowlarks as tame as Sparrows in the pine barrens
of southern Florida.
The Lark is a bird of the meadows, as its name implies ;
but it also frequents dry fields, and sometimes may be seen
perched high in a tree on some
hilltop, from which it sings its
clear refrain. Old fields are
favorite nesting places, probably in
part because the dead and uncut
grass offers concealment for the nest,
and in part because in such fields the
nest is undisturbed by the mower.
This bird is an adept at concealing
its nest, which sometimes has a cov-
ered approach. It resorts to strata- :
gem to puzzle the searcher. When Fig. 141.—Meadowlark,
the female comes from or goes to peoubed ne ee
the nest she often runs through the grass for some distance,
and seldom flies to it directly. Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock,
in recording her attempts to find a nest, states that the male
carried butterflies and dragon flies time after time to a point
one hundred yards from the nest, in an apparent attempt to
befool the searcher.
Its flight is an alternation of fluttering and slow sailing,
and it usually shows its white tail feathers often, especially
on rising and alighting. When on the ground it does not
hop like the Robin, but walks more like the Crow, occasion-
ally opening and closing its tail, showing the white feathers
conspicuously.
Its common alarm note is a rather sharp chatter, not loud,
but shrill, which often follows or precedes a long, pierc-
ing call. The ordinary song is a rather plaintive but pleas-
ing whistle of a few notes, the last usually held for several
seconds. This song is uttered either from the ground, from
318 USEFUL BIRDS.
a perch, or while the bird is on the wing. Rarely a talented
individual soars aloft, uttering an ecstatic flight song, which
compares favorably with that of the most celebrated song-
sters. I have heard this in full volume but once, and then
found it difficult to believe that it came from the throat of a
common Meadowlark. It was not at all suggestive of that
bird’s ordinary song, except in some of the last notes, nor
did it in the least resemble that of the Western Meadow-
lark ; it more resembled the music of the Bobolink, but was
louder and not so hurriedly given.
The Meadowlark is now quite generally protected by law
at all times, and no bird more fully deserves such protection.
It is practically harmless, and takes nothing that is of any
use to man except a few small grains and seeds. On the
other hand, it is one of the most useful birds of the fields,
perhaps the most valuable. In summer almost ninety-nine
per cent. of its food consists of insects and allied forms. It
eats about all the principal pests of the fields, and is particu-
larly destructive to cutworms, hairy ground caterpillars, and
grasshoppers. In summer it gets but few seeds, but in fall
and winter it takes many weed seeds. It visits weedy corn-
fields and gardens in search of ragweed and other seeds, of
which it devours enormous quantities, which make up about
one-third of the food for the year. Even in winter it pre-
fers insects when it can get them. Mr. C. W. Nash says,
in his “Birds of Ontario,” that several specimens shot in
winter contained only insects, taken about market gardens.
Professor Beal says that even in December and January the
insect components of the food are thirty-nine and twenty-
four per cent., respectively ; and in March, when insects are
still hard to obtain, the quantity rises to seventy-three per
cent. Professor Beal makes an ingenious and very moderate
estimate, from which he concludes that twenty-five dollars’
worth of hay is saved annually in an ordinary township
by Meadowlarks, through their destruction of grasshoppers,
and he values hay at only ten dollars per ton. When we
consider that grasshoppers, green grasshoppers, locusts, and
crickets all together form twenty-nine per cent. of the food
of this bird for the year, and that it is almost entirely in-
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 319
sectivorous by preference, and when we consider also the
additional injury that must occur were the insects and their
progeny allowed to increase through a lack of Meadowlarks,
the value of the bird becomes evident.
Red-winged Blackbird. Marsh Blackbird.
Agelaius pheniceus.
Length.— About nine and one-half inches.
Adult Male. — Black, with a light-edged scarlet patch at bend of wing; often
only the light edges of this patch show when the wings are closed.
Adult Female. — Smaller; grayish-brown, streaked heavily with dark brown or
blackish.
Young. — Similar to female.
Nest. — In grass or bush; rarely in a tree.
Eggs.— Pale bluish, with spots and scrawls of darker colors and black.
Season. — March to August.
Few birds are better known than the Red-winged Black-
bird. Almost every small bog hole or swamp about the farm
harbors a pair or more of these birds. They are common
about ponds and meadows. ‘The
males arrive in flocks, usually in
March, and sometimes may be
heard singing gaily while the ground
is still deeply covered with snow.
Their song is as characteristic a sign
of spring as is that of the early wood
frog, and their notes have something
of the same quality. They carry
a suggestion of boggy ooze. The ee St i ca a ent
common note is a single chuck, and 5”
the ordinary song resembles the syllables quong-ha-rece’, the
first two uttered quickly. Some individuals have a more
musical song, ending with a jingle akin to that of the
Bobolink.
Although the Red-wings almost invariably breed in the
swamp or marsh, they have a partiality for open fields and
plowed lands; and most of the Blackbirds that nest in the
smaller swamps adjacent to farm lands get a large share of
their food from the farmer's fields. They forage about the
fields and meadows when they first come north in spring.
Later, they follow the plow, picking up grubs, worms, and
320 USHFUL BIRDS.
caterpillars; and should there be an outbreak of canker-
worms in the orchard, the Blackbirds will fly at least half a
mile to get cankerworms for their young. Wilson estimated
that the Red-wings of the United States would in four months
destroy sixteen thousand, two hundred million larve.
They eat the caterpillars of the gipsy
moth, the forest tent caterpillar, and
other hairy larve. They are among the
most destructive birds to weevils, click
beetles, and wireworms. Grasshoppers,
ants, bugs, and flies form a portion of
Fig. 143.—Red-wingea the Red-wings’ food. They eat com-
slackbird, female, about
Sete RA vee Hie paratively little grain in Massachusetts,
although they get some from newly sown
fields in spring, as well as from the autumn harvest; but
they feed very largely on the seeds of weeds and wild rice
in the fall. In the south they join with the Bobolink in
devastating the rice fields, and in the west they are often so
numerous as to destroy the grain in the fields; but here the
good they do far outweighs the injury, and for this reason
they are protected by law.
Cowbird. Cow Blackbird. Cow Bunting.
Molothrus ater.
Length. — Seven and one-half to about eight inches.
Adult Male. — Lustrous black, with a rich, lustrous brown head and neck.
Adult Female. — Brownish-gray, slightly darker on wings and tail.
Nest. — That of some other bird.
Eggs.— White, speckled all over with brown.
Season. — April to October.
This much-maligned bird, which builds no home of its
own, and depends on others to hatch and rear its young, is,
nevertheless, an essential part of nature’s plan. Birds that
rear their own young are confined by necessity to a certain
radius about their nests; but the scattered bands of Cowbirds
form a wandering, unattached light squadron of insect de-
stroyers, which all summer long can go wherever their pres-
ence is most needed. In the warmer months of the year they
feed almost entirely on insects, but during the colder months
they live on seeds.
BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 321
Throughout the season the sexes intermingle promiscu-
ously, from the time the females arrive in the spring. As
usual with other species, the males come first, and may be
seen singly, in small flocks, or with other species of Black-
birds. They perch in the tops of tall trees, and their only
song is a long, thin whistle, high keyed and little varied.
The common note is a chuch’.
The females soon arrive from the south, and then flocks
may be seen in which they usually predominate. The eggs
are deposited from April to June, in the nests of other and
usually smaller birds. An egg is dropped slyly when the
owner of the nest is absent, and generally after she has laid
some of her own. Sometimes the little foster mother refuses
to adopt the offspring of another, and abandons the nest,
or builds another nest above the first one; but usually she
good-naturedly settles down upon her nest to incubate.
The Cowbird’s egg is larger than those of the foster mother,
and is commonly deposited in the center of the nest. Per-
haps it gets more heat than the other eggs, for it hatches first.
The young Cowbird grows faster than the other chicks, and
gets about all the food. It is soon able to dislodge its smaller
and weaker foster brothers and sisters, who perish ; then the
young Cowbird monopolizes the entire time and care of its
foster parents. It is no uncommon thing to see a small War-
bler or a Chipping Sparrow feeding a young Cowbird twice
its own size; but as soon as the stranger is well able to
shift for itself, it joins a flock of. its own species.
Grasshoppers seem to be its favorite animal food, but leaf
hoppers, also very destructive to grass, are freely taken.
Undoubtedly the Cowbird is of great benefit to pastures,
where it follows the cattle about, picking up insects that
start up around them. Weevils and curculios are commonly
eaten; also caterpillars, but to a less extent than other Black-
birds eat them. Cowbirds take wasps, ants, and flies in small
quantity, anda number of spiders. Vegetable food, however,
forms the main part of the Cowbird’s subsistence in spring
and fall, and, according to Professor Beal, it constitutes
nearly seventy per cent. of all the food for the year. aft
Board to"long by 6 high
S a Hiln e
it. Then it was moved 4
daily a little nearer the
: : ig. .— Design for a Sparrow-proof shelf.
house, until the birds had 226°282-—Deslen tora Sparrow'pro
(From Bird-Lore.)
learned to feed about the
door-yard.! The presence of so many birds gave a healthy
stimulus to observation, and served to break the monotony
of winter isolation on the farm. While in the bleaker por-
tions of the State it may not be possible to assemble so
many, some may be attracted anywhere.
fven our city friends who try this plan need not despair
of seeing, now and then, besides the ubiquitous Sparrow,
some of the wild birds of field and woodland. In many lo-
1 Tt is of the utmost importance to provide food and shelter for Quail in winter.
An old box or barrel, a shelter of rails in a fence corner, or a ‘‘ birds’ tepee ”’ of
bean poles, any one of which is kept supplied with a little grain, may carry
through a severe winter Quail enough tostock a whole township by their increase.
384 USEFUL BIRDS.
calities the swarming House Sparrows will come to the feast
and drive the native birds away. A hinged shelf (Fig. 162)
supported by a light spring, which has been designed by a
contributor to Bird-Lore, is believed to be Sparrow-proof.
This method of feeding gives an opportunity to see what
foods are selected by wild birds when given their choice.
It is interesting to note that the birds at our windows have
not learned to eat bread except in the shape of fine crumbs.
When birds learn that bread is good, they will eat it from
the loaf. Many kinds of food may be utilized ; doughnuts,
frozen milk, pork rind, nuts, and seeds all find favor with
the birds. Jays prefer chestnuts and corn. Sand and coal
cinders give birds the wherewithal to grind their food when
snow covers the usual supply of material on the ground.
Every family living in the country in winter needs the
pleasure and community of interest to be had in thus cater-
ing to the wants of the birds. Each farmhouse should have
at least one window shelf for them. We should teach the
children to feed them and watch for them. Thus we may
benefit both child and bird, and gain pleasure and profit for
ourselves.
Attracting the Summer Birds.
+)
The term “summer birds” may be defined as including
all summer residents, or those birds which remain through
the summer to breed. In winter we have only to offer food
to the birds to attract them; shelter and protection will
retain them; but in summer birds must have food, water,
protection, and a home. Food in quantities they always
need, especially when engaged in rearing their young.
Nature provides this in summer, but we may help them
even then by putting out favorite foods. The supply of
suet should be kept up until hot weather, and it is better
to continue it all summer, for its presence may decide some
of the resident birds to remain and nest near the house or
in the orchard. The male Chickadee will take suet to feed
to his sitting mate, and the parent birds will take it for a
part of their own food while feeding their young mainly on
insects.
If we wish to attract useful birds to the garden, it is well
85
Oo
THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS.
to begin to feed birds when they are migrating in April,
by scattering a little cracked corn, oats, wheat, barley, or
millet seed in the yard near the garden or along the garden
paths. This may attract Sparrows, Thrashers, and Black-
birds, some of which may decide to remain in the vicinity
for the summer. These birds and the Robins and Catbirds
will make themselves useful by feeding on insects at plowing
time.
Birds will drink and bathe even in winter, when they can
find water; but in summer they must have water for both
purposes. When the streams are frozen, snow takes the
place of water; but in summer, if water is not at hand,
birds must get it by drinking dew and by eating fruits or
succulent green vegetation. Where there is running water
about the house or garden, they may do very well without
further provision for their needs; but it is best in any case
to arrange a place where they can drink and bathe without
being exposed to the attacks of eats and Hawks. A shallow
pan set on the window shelf or on the top of a post on the
shady side of the house, some four or five feet from the
ground, will answer every purpose. A shelving stone may
be put in, to give a varying depth of water in different parts
of the pan. The water should not be more than two inches
deep anywhere, and not more than half an inch deep on one
side of the pan. If this is put out in the spring, and the
birds become accustomed to visiting it, they will require less
fruit than usual. The water should be changed every day.
This pan will be a source of enjoyment to the household
during the noontime, when all may watch the birds bathe
and splash the water about. Where there is running water
a drinking fountain may easily be arranged. This may be
placed on the lawn, slightly elevated, and supplied from a
drip; such a fountain should need little attention. Orna-
mental fountains and watering troughs are often so deep
that there is no chance for birds to drink or bathe. ithere
should always be shallow water somewhere. Most orna-
mental ponds have no provision for birds. The water is too
deep or the coping too high. In such cases a large stone
with a surface shelving into and just beneath the water, or
386 USEFUL BIRDS.
a shallow floating basin, provided with a wide wooden rim
to keep it afloat, may be used.
There are usually springs or brooks about the farm, where
birds can drink or bathe; but too often the long grass or
low bushes about these
drinking places conceal
the crafty cat, which lies
in wait to catch birds
when their feathers are
wet from bathing. ?
the planter the next day without any other care. The hot
and the day is sunny, the corn will be ready for
water softens the tar so that just enough will adhere to the
corn, and the corn is completely glazed by the sun. This
is by far the quicker way of tarring corn, is harmless and
effectual, and I have for years planted with a machine corn
treated in this way.”?
2. Scatter soaked corn often about the borders of the field.
3. Plant the seed three or four inches deep. This is said
to prevent corn-pulling by Crows, and must be effectual on
heavy soil.
1 Hthan Brooks, in Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agri-
culture, 1896, p. 294.
412 USEFUL BIRDS.
4. Surround the field with a line of twine, strung on
upright poles, and suspend rags, streamers, pieces of bright
tin, etc., from the twine.
5. A frequent change in scarecrows is advisable.
f
¥ 4
P
~ .
in
f
i
, f
;
- Ly
: :
ae;
F
ene ‘
\ '.
: BF :
sy
y 7
si. %,
"
PLATE LVI.— Domesticated Canada Goose on Nest. (Photograph, from
life, by I. Chester Horton.)
THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 417
tions will become necessary regarding the marketing and ship-
ment of game. The hunting license, which is now finding
favor in many States, must sooner or later be adopted here.
It is doubtful, however, if all these measures will result in
replenishing our woods with game in its former abundance.
The restocking of covers with birds from other States
an excellent method, which has long been practised by game
protective associations —is likely to come to an end, for
already most States do not allow shipments of birds to points
outside the State boundaries.
Artificial Propagation of Game Birds.
The greatly increased demand for game birds must be met
by a new source of supply. The only: promising method
available for restocking is artificial propagation and feeding.
Pheasants, Quail, Wood Ducks, Mallards, Teal, and other
wild-fowl may be reared in great numbers if the work is
scientifically done. It was interesting to observe the large
number of Pheasants and Mallards successfully reared in
1905 by Mr. Bayard Thayer at Lancaster. This is the work
in which commissioners on fisheries and game, game pro-
tective associations, and wealthy land owners must engage
if we are to have game in its former abundance. A _begin-
ning may be made by importing experienced gamekeepers
from England and Scotland, where, notwithstanding the
long settlement of the country and the density of the popu-
lation, people have game for their own use, and export a
great deal to this country to supply our depleted markets.
Artificial propagation is the most important work of the
century concerning game birds. Many thousands must be
reared and liberated annually in every Atlantic coast State,
until the covers are well stocked and the marshes again
swarm with game birds and wild-fowl.
Attempts should be made to domesticate game birds. In
more than three centuries since the discovery of the Ameri-
‘an continent only one American bird, the Turkey, has
become widely distributed through domestication. There
is no doubt that Quail, Grouse, and Wood Ducks may be
readily tamed, and the Canada Goose has been long known
418 USEFUL BIRDS.
to be capable of domestication. More attention to this sub-
ject might add largely to the quantity of our food supply,
and provide a source from which the stock of game could be
replenished. The restocking of the State with a plentiful
supply of game would keep within her borders a part at
least of the more than two million dollars which is annually
spent in other States by her sportsmen, and it would pro-
vide recreation at home for those who cannot afford the
expense of travel.
THE MOVEMENT FOR BIRD PROTECTION.
In setting forth the measures necessary for the protection
of birds, one cannot ignore the fact that a great movement for
bird protection is under way and has already accomplished
great good. The Audubon societies of the country have so
influenced public sentiment as to practically stop the wear-
ing of the feathers of useful American birds. The American
Ornithologists Union was enabled, through moneys raised by
the efforts of Mr. Abbott Thayer, to protect the sea birds on
many islands along the coast of the United States for several
years.' This work and the general one of protecting native
birds and other animals have been taken up by the National
Association of Audubon Societies, under the leadership of
Mr. William Dutcher of New York. The untiring devotion
of his time and means to this cause is bringing forth fruits in
the shape of improved legislation and aroused public senti-
ment in many States. Through his earnest efforts this move-
ment is receiving deserved endowment, which will undoubt-
edly result in its perpetuation. Game protection has been
taken up by the Biological Survey of the United States
Department of Agriculture, and a very efficient officer, Dr.
T. S. Palmer, has been placed in charge of the enforcement
of the Lacey act. State governments have been assisted by
the strong hand of the United States in enforcing advanced
legislation. The central government has co-operated with
the Audubon societies and game protective associations of
' The Massachusetts colony of Terns and Gulls at Muskeget Island was saved
from extermination first through the efforts of Mr. William Brewster and others
and later by the continuous work of Mr. George H. Mackay.
THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 419
different States. This co-operation has resulted in a great
general improvement in State laws and their enforcement.
This movement, now so well under way, gives promise of
preserving a large part at least of the wealth of our fauna,
which we may be said to hold as trustees for posterity.
For the benefit of those persons who are interested in
caring for and protecting birds, a list of some officials and
associations who will help to further the work is appended : —
Bureau of Biological Survey, United States Department
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., Dr. C. Hart Merriam,
chief, Henry W. Henshaw, administrative assistant. The
Survey distributes a large number of authoritative publi-
cations on the food habits and utility of birds. Dr. T. 8.
Palmer of the Survey, assistant in charge of game preserva-
tion, has literature on that subject for distribution, and is
prepared to furnish information that will aid in the enforce-
ment of the game and bird laws.
The National Association of Audubon Societies (offices,
141 Broadway, New York), William Dutcher, president,
T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary, is helping the cause of bird
protection everywhere by every means in its power. It
sends out excellent illustrated leaflets to teachers, and
directly influences legislation.
The Massachusetts Commission on Fisheries and Game
(Room 158, State House, Boston), Dr. George W. Field,
chairman, is the legally constituted authority for the enforce-
ment of the fish, game, and bird laws of Massachusetts. The
commission furnishes, on request, a poster containing an
abstract of these statutes. A copy of this is posted annually
in each post-office in the State. The officers of the com-
mission attend to all complaints of infractions of these laws.
The commission is also engaged in propagating Pheasants,
(Quail, and Grouse.
The State Board of Agriculture (room 156, State House,
Boston), J. Lewis Ellsworth, secretary, distributes bulle-
tins, reports, and nature leaflets on birds and bird protection ;
also cloth posters, on which are printed extracts from the
trespass laws.
The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association
420 - USEFUL BIRDS:
(216 Washington Street, Boston), William Brewster, presi-
dent, Henry H. Kimball, secretary-treasurer, is the most
influential and effective game protective organization now
actively at work in the State. It furnishes game birds to
restock depleted covers, grain for game birds in winter, and
posters containing abstracts of the game laws. Its officers
also assist in the enforcement of the statutes. Practically
all the game protective associations of Massachusetts are
affiliated with this organization.
The Massachusetts Audubon Society (234 Berkeley Street,
Boston), William Brewster, president, Miss Jessie E. Kim-
ball, secretary, is one of the most powerful forces for bird
protection in the State. Its local secretaries are numerous,
and its influence is widely felt. This association takes no
direct action to enforce the law; its chief function is to
influence public sentiment, and secure protective legislation.
The secretary has literature for distribution, and the associa-
tion publishes charts and provides lectures on birds.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals (19 Milk Street, Boston), George T. Angell,
president, Hon. Henry B. Hill, vice-president, furnishes
cards for posting in public places, offering rewards for the
conviction of persons killing birds or taking their nests or
eggs. This society, whose good work is well known, also
furnishes free literature advocating kindness to birds and
other animals.
There are other associations that take an interest in the
protection of birds. The Animal Rescue League, the League
of American Sportsmen, the Agassiz Association, and many
minor societies and sportsmen’s organizations, lend their in-
fluence to strengthen this movement. Sportsmen’s periodi-
cals have done much for the protection of birds and game.
The Forest and Stream Company of New York, under the
direction of Mr. J. Bird Grinnel, supported the first Audu-
bon Society for years, both editorially and_ financially.
Writers like Herbert K. Job, Ernest Harold Baynes, and
A. ©, Dike are penning helpful articles for newspapers
or periodicals. Nature books are teaching altruistic ideas
regarding birds.
THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 42]
All these agencies must help to hasten the day when our
woods shall teem with game and birds; when our lakes and
3
rivers shall be populous with wild-fowl; and when our
people, young and old, shall welcome, protect, and cherish
our feathered friends of orchard, garden, and field. If this
volume shall help in any degree to bring about this con-
summation, it will not have been written in vain.
PAPERS ON ORNITHOLOGY, PUBLISHED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE
BoarpD OF AGRICULTURE.
Essays and Lectures.
Utility of Birds. Wilson Flagg. Annual report of the Massachusetts
State Board of Agriculture, 1861 (Part IT.), pp. 50-78.
ricultural Value of Birds. E. A. Samuels. /bid., 1865 (Part I.),
pp. 94-117.
The Utility of Birds to Agriculture. Frank H. Palmer. /bid., 1871
(Part If.), pp: 107-120.
Insect-eating Birds. Frank H. Palmer. J/bid., 1872 (Part II.),
pp. 194-210.
3irds of Massachusetts. Dr. B. H. Warren. J/bid., 1890, pp. 34-97.
The Regulative Influence exerted by Birds on the Increase of Insect
Ag
Cc
So
Pests. E. Hf. Forbush. Massachusetts Crop Report, September,
1894.
Birds as Protectors of Orchards. E. H. Forbush. Annual report of
the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1895, pp. 347-362.
The Crow in Massachusetts. E. H. Forbush. /bid., 1896, pp. 275—
296.
Nature’s Foresters. E. H. Forbush. /did., 1898, pp. —294.
Birds as Destroyers of Hairy Caterpillars. FE. 1. ce [bid.,
1899, pp. 316-337.
3irds Useful to Agriculture. KE. H. Forbush. /bid., 1900, pp. 36-61.
3irds as Protectors of Woodlands. E. H. Forbush. /did., 1900,
pp. 300-321.
Two Years with the Birds on a Farm. E. H. Forbush. /b7d., 1902,
pp. 111-161.
Special Reports.
Ornithology of Massachusetts, List of Species. E. A. Samuels. Annual
report of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1865
(Part I.), Appendix, pp. xvili-xxix.
Report on the Birds of Massachusetts, by the State Board of Agricul-
ture to the House of oe eer under the resolution of May
28, 1890. Jbid., 1890, pp. 267-273
422 USEFUL BIRDS.
The Destruction of Birds by the Elements in 1903-04. E. H. Forbush.
Ibid., 1908, pp. 457-508.
The Decrease of Certain Birds, and its Causes, with Suggestions for
sird Protection. E. H. Forbush. Jbid., 1904, pp. 429-643.
Nature Leaflets.
No.-12. Winter Birds at the Farm. FE. H. Forbush. 1902.
No. 14. Owl Friends. KE. H. Forbush. 1908.
No. 15. Bird Houses. KE. H. Forbush. 1903.
No. 16. Our Friend the Chickadee. E. H. Forbush. 1903.
No. 22. Hints for Out-door Bird Study. E. HW. Forbush. I. How to
identify Birds. 1904.
No. 23. 7bid. II. How to find Birds. 1904.
No. 24. Ibid. UI. Howto approach Birds. 1904.
No. 25. Ibid. IV. How to attract Birds. 1904.
[NE eX:
[Heavy-faced type indicates the principal reference to a species.
INDEX.
In most instances a
brief description of the bird referred to may be found on the page thus indicated. |
Accipiter atricapillus,
cooperii, .
Velox, —
Actias luna, .
Agelaius phoeniceus,
Aix sponsa, :
Akerman, Alfred, .
Alabama argillacea,
Ailend) At. 1
Altum, Bernhard, .
Anabrus purpurascens,
Anas obscura, . .
Angell, George T., .
Anthonomus grandis,
Antrostomus vociferus,
Aphid, birch, eggs of,
Aphis, hop vine, .
woolly apple,
Aphodius inquinatus,
Ardea herodius, '
Army worm, . :
Asio accipitrinus, .
wilsonianus, .
Audubon, John J.,.
Aughey, Samuel,
Auk, Great, .
Bailey, Charles E., .
S. Waldo, .
Baird, Spencer F.,
Ballou, El Ac,
Bangs, Outram,
Bark louse, oyster-shell,
Barton, B. S:, . C
Baskett, J. M., 5
Baynes, Ernest Harold,
Beal, F. E. L., . 58, 59, 61, 162, 211
Beetles, Colorado potato,
elm-leaf, .
May, . :
rose,
striped cucunber,
Bendire, Charles,
. .
. .
.
. .
.
.
. .
.
. .
.
.
. .
. .
.
.
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. . .
. .
.
.
. .
. .
.
.
. .
. - 30, 218;
124, 142, 166, 169, 170, 175, 178,
.
. .
. .
.
i. .
.
;
295, «
5 . 4;
214,
226, 227, 234, 236, 239,
293,
. ; 16, 27, 29,
10, 11, 183, 220,
240,
.
.
305,
216,
184,
318,
218,
207,
254,
234,
PAGE
ne tO
366
366
108
. 319
6 a8
416
33
302
64
66
353
420
346, 347
200, 335
354, 356
168, 175
420
259, 264, 283, 285,
321, 342
330, 342
211, 234
238, 348
160, 548
342, 348
232, 235
Bibio albipemnis, . 5 3
Bird, Myrtle,
Planting, é A
Teacher,
Birds as tree planters,
pruners, . 3
flight of,
Bittern, American,
Least,
Blackbird, Cow,
Crow, A
food of,
Marsh,
Red-winged,
food of,
Rusty, .«
Skunk, .
Western Crow,
Yellow-headed,
Blackbirds,
Blissus leucopterus,
Bluebird,
food of,
30bolink,
fcod of,
Bob-white, 5
food of, .
Bombyx dispar,
Borer, bronze birch, 5
maple, .
Brewer, Thomas M.,
Brewster, William,
estate of,
Bruchus hibisci,
Bruner, Lawrence, .
subo virginianus, 5
Bucculatrix pomifoliella,
Buckham, James,
3ull bat, :
Bunting, Bay-winged,
Black-throated,
Cow,
Indigo,
Burroughs, John,
Butterfly, mourning-cloak,
parsley, eggs of,
Cabbage worms,
Canary, Wild,
Cankerworm, fall, . 5
spring, c
Cankerworms, 125
Carpocapsa pomonella,
INDEX.
caterpillar of,
PAGE
. : . ° 286
. ,. 201
: - : - 179
: ° 6 5 188
- 5 : 5 5 93
a
° 2
5 : . 352
352
ea)” Oia tat, a ane eee eee
114, 130, 135, 313, 371
. o1d
. = - 5 : 5 SHS
60, 114, 122, 125, 128, 180, 131, 319
320
122, 312
2 A ome
5 SHB)
67
2, 69, 75, 76
: 5 38}
115, 290, 389
5 4 . - 291
‘ « 125127, 322
: > oo
60, 325
: 5 cpl
64
: - . 254
5 5 254
‘ C 5 : c ; 6 : 5 wort
15, 218, 243, 267, 269, 331, 338, 390, 404, 410, 418, 420
403
178
109
367
252
343
341
311
300
- : 115, 122, 298
189, 190, 199, 226, 312, 363, 371
° ° 9 LG
on all
- 305
. 302
194, 222
é E c - 169
70, 170
, 127-129, 131-135, 140, 141, 175, 181, 188, 191, 195, 210,
221, 231, 295, 302, 304
° : : : = Abul
INDEX.
Carpodacus purpureus, :
Catbird, 5 YG ats
food of,
Caterpillars, American tent, 117 is
brown-tail moth,
forest tent, .
gipsy moth, 63 3,
PAGE
‘ : : . 220
125-198, 139, 181, 283, 371
qe ake yp
50- 136, 195, 208, 296, 302,
304, 343
150-140, 184, 302, 304, 570
69, 120, 125, 127, 138-140, 175
195, 126, 128, 129, 133-136, 138, 141, 144, 145,
108, 109, 115, 1
29
“hy
118, 123 3, 126, 127, 1
157, 160, 175, 181, 184, 188, 195, 205, 208, 218, 226,
333, 3869
oak, 272
red-humped, 272
tussock moth, 120
Cecidomyia destructor, . c : 33
Cedar Bird, : : é I oT, 60, 69, 209
Certhia familiaris americana, ; 5 LTTE
Chetura pelagica, 4 : : . 340
Chapman, Frank M., 5 foul, ile 197, 250, 386
Chebec, 3 5 PAE)
Chermes larcifolia, . F 5 PB!
Cherry Bird, 0 . 209
Chewink, , ‘ d : ‘ if 26, 197, 139, 218
Chickadee, : 53, 115, 122, 124, 129, 130, 136, 140, 148, 145, 146, 163, 400
food of, . 167-171
Chinch bug, 5 Sa 200 oo
Chip Bird, hana Ghinpy, 4 . 303
Chordeiles virginianus, 5 eal
Cireus hudsonicus, 4 BloYe
Cistothorus stellaris, 0 330
Clercy, J. O., ° 38 ht
Coccyzus americanus, , . 265
erythropthalmus, . . 263
Colaptes auratus luteus, 0 A . 260
Coleman, Robert H., ¢ c : . 186
Colinus virginianus, , . 325
Colt, W. ©:, 5 luKO)
Contopus virens, . . 231
Corydalus cornutus, ° ° 214
Cotton worm, : 5 Be:
Coturniculus savannartmn passerinus, . 308
Cowbird, . 320
Crane, Whooping, .« . 5 (Oe
Creeper, American Brown, : 5 alti
food of, 178
Black and White, 144, 191
Crickets, western, ; F : 65, 66
Crow, 2, 8-11, 26, 45-50, 75, 97; 114, 15,4 125, 126, 129, 137 , 145, 146, 333, 369
trapping the, : + é : . : : . 406
Cuckoo, Black-billed, 114, 115, 125, 128, 136, 138, 139, 142, 144, 263
food of, : 5 : 5 : 3 27> 264
Yellow-billed, . 60, 61, 114, 115, 126, 128, 138, 140, 146, 265
food of, . 266
Curlews, . ‘ : 5 3 : : , ; - P 68, 75
Cutworms, 11, 27, 34, 44, 157, 160, 181, 183, 287, 291, 295, 315, 316, 318, 330
Cyanospiza cyanea, . 298
428
INDEX.
Dearborn, Ned, , :
Dendroica wstiva, . :
coronata, :
pensylvanica,
vigorsii, .
virens, . :
Diacrisia virginica, :
Dickcissel, ; . :
Dike, A. C., . : j
Diomedea immutabilis, .
Diplosis tritici, ;
Dobson, . ; : .
Doryphora decemlineata,
Dove, 6 : :
Carolina, : 5
Mourning, ;
Turtle, é :
Duck, Black, .
Wood, . :
Dutcher, William, .
Eagle, Bald, .. Z
Egrets, destruction of, .
Elaphidion villosum, .
Elliot, D. G., . :
1B fo iY on : .
Ellsworth, J. Lewis,
Euproctis chrysorrhea,
Euvanessa antiopa,
Faleo columbarius,
peregrinus anatun,
sparverius,
Fannin, J., . 5
Farley, J. A., : ;
Felt, Hy. Be j 5
Fernald, C. H., : :
18lo dP.
Field, G. W.,
Finch, Crimson,
Grass, .
Purple,
food of,
Fire Hang Bird,
Fisher, A. K.,
Fiske, W. F.,
Fitch, Asa,
Flagg, Wilson,
Fletcher, James,
Flicker, i :
Northern, . f
food of,
tongue of, .
Flies, crane, . ; ¢
house, . : .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
.
. .
.
. .
. .
.
. .
. .
.
. .
. .
.
. .
.
. .
. .
. .
- .
.
.
. .
. .
.
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
PAGE
. 45, 48, 61
. 194
. 201
. 192
. 200
198
120
. 355
362, 408, 420
363,
69,
142,
122,
82
32
5 214
eG
13, 25
. 324
60, 324
. 324
. 353
. 353
418, 419
366
we SBT.
5 99
saree!)
per)
. 419
39
16
366
366
366
332
~ 283
120, 247
240, 346
Bay
. 419
. 220
Se3TT
125, 220
. 221
. 224
66, 79, 80, 206
mo
13,
oo als
28, 255
204, 287
BD
60, 126, 139, 146, 249
122, 260
261
. 261
207, 211
208, 235
INDEX.
Flies, March, . , 5 j 6
IMiSivisimae 6
robber, . 5 A 5
Flycatcher, Great-crested, 4 a
Least, . : : ;
foodkof, 3. 5
Forbes, 8. A., 5 :
Fiirst, Herman,
Galeoscoptes carolinensis, :
Galerucella luteola,
Gallinago delicata,
Game birds, destruction of,
Gentry, I. G., : : 5
Geolplypis trichas brachidactyla, .
Glover, Townend, .
Goldfinch, American, . F
food of, :
Goodell, Henry H., : c 5
Goodmore, S. E., . f
Gophers,
Goshawk, : 5 c :
Grackle, Bronzed, . . ; é
Purple, = : : 0
Rusty, . °
52, 11
food of, .
Ground Bird, . : 4 A
Grosbeak, Rose-breasted,
Grouse, . 6 5 g
Rutfed, 0 : 3 .
food of, . : :
food plants, list of,
Grub, white, . ¢ : 5 5
Guano, . ; ; ,
Gull, Brown-headed, A : .
Franklin's, . 0 c
Gulls, utility of, . .
Hair Bird, : ‘ 5
Hang Nest, . : ‘ '
Eares > \: : 4 c 6 5
lathaaky, Abe Won : 2 ; c
Harvey, F. L., 5 :
Hawk, -; : ; 5 , :
BOS aae. : F 5 4
Chicken, : 5
Coopers, 5 : P
Ducks ‘ 5 ‘ 6
Fish, . ‘ ; f F
Marsh, = ; é A
Pigeon, . :
Red-shouldered, . °
Sharp-shinned, . : :
Sparrow, . : ; :
Hawks, trapping, .- - : :
ilf(e
. .
. .
. .
.
5, 122, 125-128, 151, 133,
. .
.
. .
. .
. .
.
.
. .
. -
.
.
. .
.
. .
.
.
. 2
PAGE
. : « 286
. ° a 5 - 130
; ‘ ‘ 239
5 114, 115, 141, 144
130, 133, 141, 143, 229
3 5 : A 4 seo
60, 155, 160, 181, 183, 210, 272, 285
17
114, 115, 122,
‘ A : . 181
> 20
i F 5 : 5 CBS
5 : 76, 84, 356
: a ie BABY DBR yo.
5 5 3 . 186
é 0 ‘ = 292511
C 5 eee sib By BR
. 220
3 : 5 : 5 Be
A ; 68
78
; : ; ; 62, 366
: ; : Pia 3138
114, 313
f ; : 5 Bw
140, 142, 144, 145, 216
; ‘ ‘ : ; | 28
; 5 PAE)
13, 43
. .
5 0 61, 99, 267
i : ‘ : : 5 eral
: c to
, ; : 10, 76, 181, 289
: ~ : 0 2 82
2 : 5 405
5 é 61, 67
: 80, 81
: 5 5 . 303
6 ; oe
, é A moths:
. 226
A : ; : : GO
‘ A 96
: ‘ > 367
6 5 366
‘ 6 = ‘ 366
A é 6 4 5 . 366
5 : 4, 413
: . 9367, 406
: : - : . 366
: 5 5 A . 366
. ° ° 5 . . 366
- ° ° ° - . 366
3 . ° ; 406
430
Heath Hen, . 5 - : ; c
Heliophila unipuncta,
Hellgramite, .
Helops acreus, - - :
Henshaw, Henry W., . P 5
Hemerocampa leucostigma, . ,
Heron, Black-crowned Night,
Great Blue,
Green, B 2 4 5 5
High-hole, High-holder,
Hill, Henry B.,
Hirundo erythrogaster, . 0 :
Hodge, C. F., 5 A 5 0 5
Hoffman, Ralph, . . - : -
laloyaatols, eG ID, a ; c
Hornaday, William T., .
Howard, L. O., ;
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated, :
food of, .
Hylocichla fuscescens, .
mustelina, . 6
Indian Hen, . F 5 : 4 :
Indigo Bird,
Insects, parasitic, . : : ° :
predaceous,
transformations of,
To caterpillar,
Iridoprocne bicolor,
Isia Isabella,
INDEX.
PAGE
: é : 26, 266
ee ag 36
Me ae ie ode O5!
5 : : : . eens
: . ; : é ¢ . 419
. 3 ; : : 5 eee
; Cae So
67, 352
: 5 eee i.
. . 260
SNe nae 420
; bate ee eae
Pom ait 267, 269, 271, 373
191, 199, 310
DAT
Nod dit te anne 354
Legh) eee ahon Seal poked ent.
122, 240
249, 244
. 156
. 158
igo).
137, 139, 298
18-20, 240
ee eal,
he te jade + ie 13-15
264
, : . 344
120
Jay, Ape eM ae ee ee a 52) OVS ira)
Blue, 11, 114, 115, 126, 129, 132, 136, 138, 139, 144-146, 369
Jenks, J. Y. P., ‘ 2 : 0 cC . 276, 284
Job, Herbert K., . A ‘ : : 5 é 5 5 : 420,
Judd, Sylvester D., 121, 178, 181-183, 186, 272, 273, 278-280, 294, 300, 305,
326, 327, 329-331
Junco hyemalis, 5 . 300
Junco, Slate-colored, : 122, 296, 300
food of, . 301
Kaltenbach, J. H., - : ; ¢ : a See
Keyser, Leander S., i :
Kimball, H. H.,
Ieuayegs 15 daly, : , - c °
Kingbird,
food of,
Western,
Kingfisher, . s 5
Kinglet, Golden-crowned,
Ruby-crowned,
King lets,
Kirby and Spence, .
Kirkland, A. H.,
29
; : ¢ “ peelioomlon
x 326
175, 206, 272
141, 145, 145, 235
238
ow M14, 115; 127, 136;
ae
: 4 6 : : - 5 Hoye
5 LG!
161
160
30, 64, 73
, 30, 45, 51, 136, 175, 228, 237, 252, 256, 304
INDEX.
Lachnus strobi, r
Lanius borealis, ;
Lark, Old-field, , c
Larus franklinii, . :
Lawrence, Samuel C., .
Leopard moth,
Leucarctia acriea,
Lilford, Lord,
Linnet, Gray, : ‘
Red, .
Lintner, J. A.,
Liparis monacha,
Locust, Rocky mountain,
ravages of,
Lyford, C. Allan,
Mackay, George H., :
Malacosoma disstria,
Marlatt, C. L., ‘
Martin, Bee,
Black,
Purple, , 5
food of,
Martins, .
Mathews, Schuyler, ;
Mavis, Red, . : .
Maynard, ©. J.,
Meadowlark, . é :
food of,
Megascops asio, . :
Melanoplus femur-rubrum,
spretus, .
Melospiza cineria melodia,
georgiana,
Merriam, C. Hart, .
Florence, 5
Merula migratoria,
Mice, field,
meadow,
Midge, wheat, :
Millais, J. G.,
Millinery trade, :
Wiitavoye, Tel, 1D). 2 :
Mniotilta varia,
Mosher, F. H.,
Moth, brown-tail,
cecropia,
codling,
fall cankerworm, eggs of, .
38, 359, 128, 142-144, 14
gipsy,
leopard,
unary = :
THUAN ee 5 :
polyphemus,
. .
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
. .
51, 52, 62, 124, 144, 184, 193)
5 164,
PAGE
. . - 162
: . 310
. . 316
. 61, 67
39
elon
112
5 te)
; 220
: 220
.
m
-]
28, 34
. 67-69, 74
118
. . 418
° . 69
P : - 230
: $ . 347
5 é . 347
348
Do)
265
179
o9, 419
236, 241
. 282
6 Lite Ther toh)
. 367
: By
405
: A 85, 357
218, 308, 309, 404
als hil
225, 230, 241, 333
39, 124, 130, 147, 148, 205, 23:
9 9
7, 148, 192, 2
109
05, 214, 231, 232, 234, 238
432 INDEX.
Moth, tent caterpillar, eggs of, : 5 ‘
tussock, 5 . D 3 : :
Munger, H. C., 5 ; 5 ; 0 .
Musselman, C.C., . ; é ; , ;
Nash, C. W., . : , i A A 5
Nectarophora destructor, é 2
Nighthawk, :
food of,
Nuthatch, Canada,
ted-breasted, ‘ Z : A
food of, . 3 C
W hite-breasted, A
food of,
Nuthatches, . : : p F
Nuttall, Thomas,
Nyctala acadica,
Nyctea nivea, ;
Nycticorax nycticorax neeyius,
Oak pruner, . .
Oriole, Baltimore,
food of,
Orchard,
Orioles,
Osborn, Herbert,
Osprey, American,
Otus brachyotus, . . ; : 0 a
Oven-bird, A 115,
food of, . 5 4 3 : 6
Owen, Daniel E., . ta gaonts . é :
Owl, Acadian, ; : 3 3 :
American Hawk,
American Long-eared, . 5 3
Barn, é : C . : 4 .
Barred, . 5 a 0 5
Great Horned, 5 . :
Oot wenn: 6 : F ‘
Saw-whet,
Sereech,
Short-eared,
Snowy,
Owls, A : : 5
Packard, A. S.,
Paleacrita vernata, ; F 3 : -
Palmer, T. S., j :
Pandion hiliztus carolinensis,
Papilio polyxenes, .
Partridge, 2
Parusatricapillus,
Pea louse,
Peabody Bird,
Pear tree psylla,
Pélicot, P.,
70, 114, 115, 122, 125-128,
PAGE
bate eee ot re Ter
Us akg, Tavee Sat eRe pee
eae Ae 326
: ’ BD
6 . 44, 45, 227, 318, 330
Chas hoe 304
iene aa 60, 341
. 342
ne ee eae
See ts eet
: 176
Sots 115, 122, 171
174
; 163
. 226, 231, 251, 263
so aa rca
367
paar . 351
Pe mae: : 99, 256
131-133, 136, 137, 140, 143, 224, 230
226
294
69, 108
SelST
. 413
ee Seg ea emits 78
122, 124, 127, 134, 141, 144, 146, 188
AM rates
hae . 42, 45, 51
‘ 6 : : . 368
. 367
. 368
79, 368
367
. 367
. 367
. 368
. 368
78, 367
Mf Aareiete ts at . 367
«cage tn is ieee ae
32-36, 111, 112, 256, 348
70
. 418, 419
413
oe eh ae SIN
267
INDEX.
Pewee, :
Bridge, 5
Wood,
food of,
Phasianus torquatus,
Pheasant, Ring-necked,
Philohela minor,
Phebe, . j :
Phoebe Bird, . s
food of,
Phorodon humuli, .
Piesma cinerea,
Pigeon, Passenger, .
Pigeons, domestic,
Piranger erythromelas,
Pissodes strobi,
Plant lice, : :
eggs of, .
Platysamia cecropia,
Plover,
.
. .
. .
.
. .
food of, .
98, 62, T1, 122,
115, 122, 129, 12
Upland, 5 ; o
Pooecetes gramineus, . C ;
Porthetria dispar, A
Porzana carolina, .
Poultry, . C 4 5
Prairie Chickens, . c
Proctor, Thomas M., . 0
Psylla pyri, . : ;
Quail, . : : :
Marsh, . 4 5
Rail, Sora, 5 3
Virginia, é :
Railroad worm, 5
Rallus virginianus,
Raspail, Xavier, <
tedstart, American, : A
food of,
Reed Bird,
Reed, Cr JAY. ° .
Regulus satrapa, 5 5
Rice Bird, 5 é c és
Ridgway, Robert, .
Riley, C. V., . 5 : 9
Riley and Howard, 5 4
Riley, Packard, and Thomas, z
Riparia riparia, ‘ :
XYobin, . 5 :
American,
food of, - , 5
Golden, .
Ground, : . : ¢ :
Wood, :
124-128,
114, 115, 122,
1-15:
.
175,
115, 122, 129,
>
)5
° - .
196, 203, 221, 223,
: : . 233
: 5 . 233
126, 141, 143, 231
ZB y)
: - 332
G : c , 332
. .
. .
c é 3 . 336
114, 115, 145, 233, 388
. ° . 233
: . 254
: Z 29
: , . 1f4
; do4, 356
5 ; : 135,25
i : ; . 212
168, 254
339, 344
A 2 - 162, 223
: . . 108, 259
26, 43, 67, 68
75, 334, 336
. 311
. A 5 ks’
. 350
° , 85
67, 68, 75, 76, 84
; 93
153
26, 67, 68, 75, 76, 325
316
é 4 . 231
: : . 350
6 < » 408
135, 158, 140, 143, 196
a 197
4 . o22
199
. 322
Di, Lote O20
5 A Gite ata
65, Td
. d+, 69, TS
: : . 344
. 9, 10, 16, 44, 45, 115
136, 138-140, 147, 282, 315
285
5 : . 224
454 INDEX.
PAGE
Romaine, C.E., . 5 ; . 5 5 330
Russell, John 8., A 5 F 5 5 348
Sanderson, E. D., . : . 174
Sandpiper, Bartramian, . : 2 3o4, 336
Spotted, 2 . 335
Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied, 5 114, 115, 262
Sayornis Phoebe, : 233
Scale, San José, 151
Schizoneura lanigera, 2 - 203, 252
Schizura concinna, ¢ 22,
Seeds eaten by birds, 281, 296
Seton, Ernest Thompson, : . 343
Setophaga ruticilla, LOG
Shaw, Henry, . . 142
Shrike, Northern, a ode
Shrubs, fruit-bearing, A . 374
Sialia sialis, .| 290
Silkworm, American, 30, 108
Sitta canadensis, 176
carolinensis, aba
Smith, John B., 107
Snipe, 3
Wilson’s, 337
Snowbird, oo)
Black, . 300
Spanworm, currant, : ¢ ; ; é : oe IUEY
Sparrow, Chipping, 55, 114, 115, 122, 126, 136, 143, 303, 398
food of, ‘ 2 : . 3 . F . 304
English, 21, 56, 114, 134, 136-138, 140, 141, 292, 294, 544, 370, 389, 407
Field, F 114, 122, 127, 131, 140, 301
food of, 5 302
Fox, . 296
Grasshopper, . 308
food of, - 209
Ground, 4 5 BASIS)
Henslow’s, : 309
House, 56, 206, 225, 292, 370
Savanna, . : . 310
food of, : ; . 5 3 5 NUL
Song, . 42, 114, 128, 134, 141, 296, 299
Swamp, : . 349
Tree, . 306
Vesper, ‘ seculil
food of, 5 : 5 oly
W hite-throated, 114, 122, 131, 307
: . 308
Yellow-winged, . 308
Sparrows, food of, = 295
Sphyrapicus varius, . 262
Spizella monticola, . . 306
pusilla, : A . 301
socialis, - é 5 3i0)8}
Spoonbills, : = ° : 65
Squirrels, c 94, 364, 408
INDEX. 435
Stake-driver, .
Starlings, 5
Stockwell, J. W.,
Sturnelia magna, .
Swallow, Bank,
food of, .
Barn,
food of, .
Chimney,
Cliff,
> food of,
Eaves,
House,
Tree, :
food of, .
W hite-bellied,
W hite-breasted,
Swift, Chimney, . 5
food of,
Tanager, Scarlet, 0
food of,
Summer,
Teeter, 0 c
Tegetmeier, W. B.,
Telea polyphemus,
Telematodytes palustris,
Terns,
eggs of,
Thayer, Abbott H.,
Bayard,
Theronia melanocephala,
Thistle Bird, .
Thompson, Maurice,
Thoreau, Henry D.,
Thrasher, Brown, ;
food of,
Thrush, Brown, . :
Golden-crowned,
Hermit,
Sc mg,
Tawny,
Wilson's, .
W ood, ;
food of, .
Thrushes,
food of,
Tip-up,
Titmice, . : é ,
Titmouse, Black-capped,
Torrey, Bradford,
Towhee, . A
food of,
Toxostoma rufum, .
food of,
PAGE
. 352
17, 65
36, 37
- 316
GO, 344
344
. 345
345
. 340
61, 346
347
346, 387
. 344
344, 389
345
. 344
125, 340, 387
63, 115, 122, 125, 127, 135, 137, 144, 146, 212
213,
211
. 335
79
30, 108
. 350
80
82
418
417
239
6 PPP}
246, 258
: 96, 299
115, 154, 179
: 180
Io ae aes abrAs)
115, 136, 137, 156
93, 115, 126, 127, 133, 134, 139, 158
c 2 . 199
114, 115, 122, 145, 218
220
4 ale)
we
ew
aye
Oo
INDEX.
PAGE
Treadwell, D., ; : : 5 A : : Z 4 . 44
Treat, Mary, « : : ‘ : é ; : : 4 2 : ae lat
Tree hoppers, buffalo, 272
Trees, fruit-bearing, : : F ‘ y F i A 2 ‘ . 374
Troglodytes aédon, é 3 é : : 5 4 é : : . 292
Trouvelot, Leopold, ; : 5 a ; o 6 5 . 30, 31, 38, 108
Turner, R. E., : : : . : ; : 3 : 4 Sema (23
Tyrannus tyrannus, : : : ‘ : j 5 : 2 . . 235
verticalis, A : 4 ‘ as : ‘ : F . Ero
Veery; <- 6 : ; : ; : : : ; : < - 156
Vines, fruit-bearing, : ; ; j 5 ‘ : a A 5 . dt4
Vireo, Red-eyed, . : 51, 115, 122, 125, 127, 129, 136-138, 140-142, 146, 204
food of, f ; A 3 0 ‘ : 5 > 205
Solitary, : : C : . : j : : : ¢ . 203
Warbling, : :
food of, : : : ; 5 A - 6 : OT,
White-eyed, : : : A : ; ; ; 4 ‘ 0
Yellow-throated, 0 6 : - 115, 122, 125, 134, 138, 140-142, 207
food of, . - : : ; : : 3 2 203
Vireo flavifrons, 3 5 5 : ; 5 2 3 F é : 5 PANE
gilvus, . ; é 5 . : : ; 0 5 é . 206
olivaceus, F : 3 : 5 é : ; 5 : . 204
Vulture, . é : : , : . . 5 é c é . . 3,4
Wake-up, . : : - 2 3 : : é . - : . 260
Walsh, D. B., : ; ; : é : , : - : : SO
Warbler, Black and White, . 115, 122, 124, 125, 127, 150; 132) 135, 140) 141, 191)
food of, ; ; ; " ‘ ® . 192
Blackburnian, ; 6 : ; A : : : : - 102
Black-poll, . ; 5 : 3 ° a : : eat ie 1 a 23)
Black-throated Blue, ; : - ; z : ; 122
P : ; ¢ 5 7 ASSAD 28498
food of, : : 5 : : : - 200
Blue-eyed Yellow, j ‘ : : : : ; . 194
Chestnut-sided, . « 1b, 122) 126, 127, 132; 134, 136, 13914 1" 192
food of, . ; 5 . 5 0 ; : = 94
Golden-winged, A : 5 : : Wd; 13d el o2e oA lone 14a
Hooded, . ; : : ; : : . : C é . 185
Green,
Magnolia, ‘ 3 : : : ; : ; 5 : . 122
Myrtle, . 4 n 5 3 ; 3 71, 122, 153; 201
food of, 5 : A 5 . ‘ - 202;
Nashville, : : 5 9 ; : : : 115, 131-133, 139
Palm, : ’ ¢ - : ‘ : : ; é : . 186
Parula, ~~. : ; - : - 5 ‘ 115, 122, 126, 132, 398
Pine, ‘ 3 : : 5 F , ‘ : ; : . 200
food of, . P a 5 : : < F i 5 peed
Pine-creeping, : ; ; : ; ‘ : ; : . 200
Yellow, P : 115, 122, 127, 132-136, 140, 141, 143, 194
food of, 5 : : 3 ; 2 4 : ; Ob
Yellow-rumped, ‘ . : ; : : : . : . 201
Warblers, . : : : : : A - : : : 3 >» 185
Warren, B. H., : : é : F . 3 . 60, 191, 206, 218, 245, 515
INDEX.
Waxwing, Bohemian,
Cedar, . : 5
food of,
Webster, F. M.,
Weed, Clarence M.,
Weed and Dearborn,
Weevil, Mexican cotton boll,
pea,
white pine,
Wells, D. A., ;
Wheelock, Irene G.,
W hip-poor-will,
food of,
Widmann, Otto,
Wilson, Alexander,
Wilson and Bonaparte,
Wood, E. W.,
Woodpecker, Downy, 6
food of,
Gatfer,
Golden-winged,
Hairy, c é
food of, .
Partridge,
Pigeon,
Red-headed,
Wren, House, . :
food of,
Long-billed Marsh,
Rock, . : ‘
Short-billed Marsh,
Wright, Mabel Osgood, .
Yellow Bird, .
Summer,
Yellow-hammer, 3
Yellow-throat, Maryland,
Northern,
Zairelodia lidovieiana, .
Zonotrichia albicollis,
food of,
PAGE
: 5 209
115, 151, 140, 209
210
a 259, 346
55, 168, 183, 202
51, 57, 289
45, 48,
168, 254
56, 75
200)
> 342
D458
oa
244, 320
4
5 ; : . F 5 AD)
114, 115, 122, 129, 144, 146, 248 249
250
. 260
: : : : . 260
114, 115, 146, 247, 248, 258
259
. 260
. 260
949, 355
54, 115, 292
293
. 194
7 o4 4
Aa
pe Pic ie eT
ih Fk oe ¥ Gy
ae eee
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r : '
a &
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a
'
oi 1
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iD a
;
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i
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1
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*
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.
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BYPLOPAEEESSLEVETE
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIE
TN iii
OO ad pty ue
Useful birds and their protection.