American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-09-05
InSect-Eating Birds.

ALL birds, especially the smaller kinds,
are insectiverous. Those that feed upon
fruit or seeds vary their diet with insects,
and in the spring of the year when fruits
and seeds are not to be found, they feed
wholly upon insects. The birds that
commonly do this are the robin, sparrow,
blackbird cedarbird, bobolink, thrush
chewink or towhce bunting. But with Il
large number of birds insects are their
entire food. The blucbirds feed upon
the young grasshopper, the larvae of
the wire-worm, all moths and millerS
and hunt their food mostly upon the
ground.
The kingbirds take most of their food
on the wing and pursue the caterpillar,
moth and other winged insects with I'M
ceasing assiduity. The honey-bee is II
favoritc food of this bird, and therefore
is disliked by the bee -fancier.
The pewee subsists in the same man
ner rs the kingbird The oriolc or hang
bird searches among the branches of the
trees and grape-vincs, feeding upon the
grape-worm, canker-worm, and Il great
variety of worms and insects. He will
peck open the young pea-pods and some
times does much damage in this way.
Swallows take their food on the wing
it consists of all the small winged in
sects, the house-ily, and all insects
toes and such like game; they are most
useful birds
All the tribe of fly-catchers pursue their
game upon and through the trees and
vines, and will eat Il great variety of
worms and winged insects.
The robins favorite food is the COM
mon angle worm, IA worm that does no
harm to vegetation, and us the robin is
an expert fruit-cater it reduces his claim
among the useful birds. The thrush, cat
bird, chewink or towhee bunting, like
the robin, are expert fruit casters, but
subsist on insects until the berries are
ripe, when they take to them almost en-
tirely.
The crow feeds largely upon grasshop-
pers and crickets in the latter part of the
summer and autumn. The cuckoos de
stroy great number of the large millers
and butterflies, but do not inhabit cult
waited fields, living mostly in thick woods.
All the varieties of the woodpecker live
upon the larvae of insects, ants, spiders,
etc; they are most useful birds. The
chickadeedee belongs to this tribe, and
hunts for the eggs and small larvae con
tinually through the year. Although
most of the feathered tribe will eat in
sects, there are some kinds of insects
they will not feed upon and unfortunate
ly they are the kind most troublesome to
the farmer. They are the following: The
tent caterpillar, the late caterpillar or
Palmer worm, and all the hairy caterpil-
lars, the oak worm, both kinds of the
squash-bugs, rose-bug, currant and wire
worms. The cut-worm and white grub
or larvae of the May beetle are down in
the earth too deep for the birds to get
them, as none of the wild birds ever
scratch to any depth in the soil. The
only scratching birds are the quail and
partridge, and they rarely come into cul-
tivated fields to search for insects The
quail hunts through the stubble for grain,
acting the part of the CLEANER. The crow
will dig with his stout bill to some depth,
but not deep enough to get at the grub
worm. They may occasionally find the
cut-worm early in the morning, before it
has retreated beneath the soil.-O"r
Dunb AnimaIs.