Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-05-04

But remaining perfectly quiet, so as not
to increase the disturbance, l at length
discovered an oriole whose wing had be-
come so entangled in one end of a long
string which formed part of the nest that
she could not escape. The other birds
had also discovered her condition, and
hence their lsmentation over q misfor-
tune they were unable to remedy. But
they did all they could, and were sssidu-
ously bringing food to a nest full of vora-
cious young ones, as we'll as feeding the
imprisoned parent. / was so struck with
the interesting spectacle that my family
were called out to witness it; then, hay
ing gazed upon it a few moments, / eau
tiously approached the prisoner, took her
in my hands, carefully united and then
cut away the treacherous string, and let
the frightened warbler 60 free. She in
lstantly few up into her nest, SIS if TO see
that all her callow brood were safe, gave
us song of thanks, and Immediately the
crowd of syinpathizing birds, as if con-
scious that the difficulty no longer existed,
few away TO their respective nests.
1t takes mankind q great while to learn
the ways of Providence, and to understand
that things are better contrived for him
than he can contrive them for himself
OF late, the people are beginning TO
learn that they have mistaken the char
acter of most of the little birds. and have
not understood the object of the Almighty
in creating them. They are the friends
of those who plant. and SOW. and reap
! 1t has been seen that they live mostly on
insects, which are among the worst enc
mics Of the sgriculturalist and that if
they take away now and then a grain of
wheat, grape, cherry, or a strawberry,
| they levy but a small tax on the immense
services rendered. in this altered state of
things, the legislatures are passing laws
for the protection of the birds, and in
creasing the penalties already enforced
upon the bird killers.
A farmer in my neighborhood came one
day to borrow gun for the purpose of
shooting some yellow birds in his field of
wheat, which he said were eating up the
grain. | declined to loan the gun. In
order however, 10 crafty his curiosity. |
shot one of them, opened its crop, and
found in it 200 weevils, and but four
grains of wheat, and in these four grains
the weevil had burrowed This was a
most instructive lesson, and worth the life
of the poor bird, valuable as it was. This
bird resembles the canary, and sings
finely. One fact like this affords an elo-
quent text for sermonizing for the benefit
of the farmers and others who may look
upon little birds as inimical TO their in
terest. Every hunter and farmer ought
10 know that there is hardly bird that
flies that is not friend of the farmer and
gardner.
Some genial spirits have given the most
-, - h. 1f /,
value of birds One gentleman took his
position some fifteen feet from the nest
of an oriole, in the top of peach-tree, to
observe his habits. The nest contained
four young ones, well fiedged, which ev-
cry now and then would stand upon the
edge of the nest TO try their wings. They
were therefore, at an age which required
the largest supply of food. This the pa
rents furnished al intervals of two to six
minutes, throughout the day. They
lighted on the trees, the vines, the grass
and other shrubbery. clinging at times to
the most extreme and delicate points of
the leaves, in Search of insects. Nothing
seemed to come amiss TO these sharp eyed |
foragers-grasshoppers, ,caterpillars, worms, |
and the smaller flies. Sometimes one, |
and sometimes as many as six, were plain |
ly fed to the young ones at once. They |
would also carry away the refuse litter |
from the nest and drop it many yards off. |
A little figuring gives the result of this |
incessant warfare against the insects.-l
For only eight working hours it will be
1000 worms destroyed by single pair of |
birds. But if hundred pairs be domes-
ticated on the premises, the destruction |
viii amount TO 100, 900 daily, or 5000. 900
a month,
This may seem TO be mere paper cal |
culation, but the annals or ornithology |
are crowded with con6rmatory facts
The robin is accused of sppropriating the |
fruit which he has protected during the |
growing season from cloud of enemies. |
But his principle food is spiders, beetles, |
caterpillsrs, worms, and larvae. Nearly |
200 larvae have been taken from the giz- |
zard ofa single bird. He feeds voracious- |
ly on those of the destructive worm. In |
July he takes few Strawberries, cherries |
and pulpy fruits generally, more as des-
sert than anything else because it is in
variably found to be largely intermixed |
with insects. Robins killed in the coun-
try, at a distance from gardens and fruit !
trees, are found to contain less stone-fruit !
than those near villages; showing that
this bird is not an extensive forager. III
our choicest fruit is near at hand, he takes
a small toll of them, but a small one only. |
In reality, a considerable part of every
crop of grain and fruit is planted. not for
the mouths of our children, but for the
fly, the curculio. and the canker-worm or
some other of these pests of husbandry.
Science has done something, end will no
doubt do more, to alleviate the plague
1t has already taught us not to wage equal
war on the wheat-iy and the parasite
which preys upon It-and it will, perhaps,
eventually persuade those who need the
lesson, that few peas and cherries are
well bestowed by way of dessert on the
cheerful little warblers, who turn our gar
dens into concert-rooms, and do so much |
TO aid us in the warfare against the grubs
and caterpillars which form their princi-
pal meal.