Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-08-15
What Do Birds Eat :

|. A paper under this title by John w.
Robson, formerly of Illinois, and now
OF Kansas, was read before the North.
ern Illinois Horticultural Society, at
It's late session ut Princeton. The
essay was replete with facts gathered
under the personal observation of the
essayist, and from notes taken at the
time we reproduce the following: The
red.tailed huzzard feeds upon squirrels,
rabbits, rats and mice, and, therefore
it is the farmers friend. The sparrow
hawk occasionally takes barnyard
fowl, but feeds principally on mice and
moles. The king-bird eats gadflies,
BOTTLES, and various other insects
and sometimes fruit, but is not des-
tructive to fruit to any great degree.
The great crested fly catcher and pewee
are fast friends of the orchardist, and
live on insects. solely. The bobolink
eats the seeds Of weeds, insects, and at
the South rice. Sportsmen eagerly kill
it for the delicacy of it's flesh.
The red-winged black bird in the
spring lives principally on cut. worms,
wire-worms, caterpillars, and the larvae
of noxious insects; later they attack
corn, and also eat the seeds of various
plants. The purple grackle follows the
plowman in the spring, and destroys
the hrvB of many noxi0us insects.
The Baltimore oriole feeds on beetles,
curculio, pea curculio, and the long
shouted nut weevi]. And we may add
in parenthesis, it is thoroughly detest.
ed by the fruit grower in Southern H.
linols The orchard oriole, q wren, is
too little known and appreciated by
orchardists. 1t devours hosts of worms
and nOxious insects, and is the most in
dustrous bird the writer knows. The
meadow lark lives principally on sub
terranean larvse. The blue iay, this
pert and SNOWY bird, the writer consid-
ers mean, dece tfnl, tyrannical and
sly; yet he is one of the few birds
which eat the orchard caterpillars.
The butcher bird is one of the most
industrious of the feathered tribe, and
feeds on caterpillars, grasshoppers,
etc. The cedar bird eats the canker
worm. The white breasted nuthatch
and American creeper live on tree in
sects solely: Robins eat grubs, the
Larvae of the May beetle, and cut
worms, and are especially destructive
to Strawberries. The brown thrush
and cat.blrd destroy the same class of
insects, and also eat ripe berries. Blue
birds live exclusively on insects and
their larvae and are especially destruct-
i've to the canker-worm and codling
NTH. The finch family include about
twenty varieties and subdivisions. They
spread over large tracts of country in
search of grubs, larvae of insects, and
seeds. The American red start is a
gay little fellow, fitting about from
place to place after swarms of flies.
The warblers are of great service to the
farmer and horticultural, for they de-
stroy great multitudes of noxious in
ssects.
Ho'lse Wrens. The patient, perse-
ver1ng, and yet braveslittle fellows feed
exclusively on caterpillars and insects.
The black capped titmouse eats tho
larvae nd7cocoons Of the scodling moth.
Woodpeckers are the true laborers
for man, their chief food being tree
larvae. The American or rain crow is q
quiet bird, having a timid and retiring
disposition. He quits the tent of everY
orchard caterpillar he meets. The
American partridge or quail is one OF
the unremitting destroyers of chinch
bugs and the striped pumpkin bug
and is one of the most valuable of birds
to the farmer and horticulturist. The
essayist believed that farmers and hor.
ticulturists had not Disseminated
enough between friends and foes, and
he had noticed cases where the indis.
criminate slaughter of birds had work.
ed evil to the products of the farm and
garden. -: ~