Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-07-29

1
seeds of weeds. Sothe warblers, as a rule,
are OF immense benefit through the de
struction of multitudes of noxious in
| SectS.
The meadow-lark subsists principally
upon Larvae which are found under
| ground
The plover, which nests ON the prairie
ana IN corn-fields, eats grasshoppers, bee
ties, snails, etc
Inc land game-birds, although classed
generally as granivorous, are of undoubted
cement, since their food consists more
largely OF insects than anything else.
he ter-birds-waders-a a class. are
neither especially beneficial nor Injurious
10 the farmer. The swimming birds
DUCKS, geese, etc.-are decidedly destruc
tive, since when they make excursions
upon the land it is generally for the pur-
pose OF ralding upon fields of grain.
Birds may be classified very properly
into omnivorous-those living on vari-
ETY. OF food; insectivorous-thos living
entirely on insects; and granivorous, or
those which make a large proportion of
their food to consist of grain and seeds.
Of the first class, crows, blackbirds,
jays, orioles, starlings, cedar birds and
titmice are among the principal families.
These, as a rule, feed indiscriminately on
berries, seeds, gram and insects.
Of insectivorous birds, those feeding al
mostexclusivelyo on Observation-Disclosures,
swallows, night -hawl>s, shrikes, blue birds,
fly -catchers, creepers, the warblers (syl
vi3) and wrens-are especially noteworthy.
Few of these are hurtful in any sense, and
all OF them are extremely beneficial both
to the farmer and horticulturist. A few
OF them take ripe berry now and then,
but never to such a degree as to cause
them to be missed
The granivorous birds comprise the
gallinaceous tribes, including our poultry
birds, grouse, cartridges, quail, etc., gras-
heaks, tanagers, fnches and buntings.
Many OF them depredate severely upon
the husbandman at times, and then NAV
very properly be killed 1t must, howev-
er, always be borne in mind that many of
those classified as being pre-eminently
grain-ea as grouse, quail, blackbirds,
inches, ETC., are also largely insecteaters,
and feed eiryoung almost exclusively on
insectivOrOus larvae
1t must be remembered, also, that birds
are the natural enemies of insects; that,
were it not for birds insect-life would soon
increase to such an extent as to devour
every green thing from the face of the
earth; that, even with their help, insects do
so increase in certain SUGGESTIONS of pro
| life seasons as to Overrun and devastate
large areas of cOuntries-locusts, chinch
! bugs, Hessian-fies and army-worms nota-
| bly, among farmers, and codling moths,
canker- worms and curculio among fruit
| growers; that in a state Of nature, birds
do hold insect-life in suitable check that,
as a country settles up, birds are destroyed
to considerable extent, while, through
the systematic cultivation of the earth, a
| large supply of insect-foOd causes a cor
| responding increase of insects, and for
cOgent reasons, without corresponding
| increase Of birds-One reason being that
no species OF birds are the special foes of
insects prevalent in particular seasons !;
another being that insect-propagation is
so extremely prolific when the conditions
are suited thereto. Therefore let us use
wise discretion in the protection of birds
and as careful a discretion in killing
| them.
Birds destructive to one class of cult
vators may be beneficial to another and
0ace gersa. When they are taking more
than their share, one class may be killing
them, while the other is protecting; and,
here again. the natural law of selfpreser-
walton becomes apparent. In the northern
portions of Illinois, robins, at-birds,
| orioles, thrushes, etc., are not generally re-
! garded as destructive, but rather as being
| beneficial, and for the reasons that the
culture Of fruit is not then the leading in
| dustry, and orchards, at the time of ripen-
| ing their fruits, are, in many instances,
watched. In the fruit-regions in the more
| southern portions of the State these birds
are justly regarded as being the most inim-
| ical of the feathered creation.
| We hold that the determination of any
of our birds would be a serious evil that,
| if the cultivator would take the same pains
to prevent injury by birds as he must, in
| certain seasons, to prevent the ravages of
insects, and often failing even with the
help of birds, he would soon come to
know and to discriminate between those
most truly his friends and those more de-
structive to his crops" Farm and Gar
| den,'' IN Chicago Tribune.
The theory, so commonly accepted, in
! regard to the influence of forests on eli
especially that they encourage rain