Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-09-23
What the Birds Eat.

D
What the Birds Eat.
Al recent meeting of the Ontario
Agricultural Commission held at London,
William T.. Sanders, the well known
Canadian ornithologist, gave an account
OF some insectivorous birds that were
worthy OF encouragement. He said he
hac been engaged in the study OF birds
for the last seven or eight years, and had
examined the crops OF probably about
200; OF the birds which were purely in
secuvorous, the most common WAS the
large family of warbers, of which the
yellow warbler and The red start mostly
took their food on the wing, but partially
on the branches OF trees; OF the birds
which took their food exclusively on the
wiGg were the iy.cachers, which include
the king bird and the peewoe; their food
was chiefly flies. Moths were numerous
ly caught by nlghthawks, and these alto.
gether with the swallows he considered
birds beneficial to the farmer and fruit.
grower. or the birds which fed partly
on the wing and partly on trees, the food
OF the yellow warbler consisted chiefly OF
larvtU and eggs of moths, which they took
from the leaves OF trees; the vlreds and
cuckoos were birds OF the same class and
similarly beneficial. The b.lebird FED
mostly on insects, though 1t might take
grain when its iavorte diet was not OBJ
tainsbie. The insects devoured by the
lastdescribed class of birds were mostly
Injurious 10 tho orchardist and the farmer
The nuhatcn, which WAS II very common
bird, stayed In these ATTITUDES the year
round, aud lived almost entirely on in
scc,s and their eggs, and chrysalides. The
nA bar tlxt IL thaf
trees. The redbeaded variety were gen.
orally considered pest on account OF
their devouring SO much fruit, chiefly
cherries aud apples. The high holder
woodpecker, though it occasionally alto a
few cherries, WAS on the whole a bird
which should be proto cted, owing to the
number of insects il devourod. The hairy
aud downy woodpeckers and tho yellow
bellied variety were commonly, but he
believed unjustly, donominated tap suck
ers, aud accused of destroying fruit aad
other trees by extracting the SAP from
them. He had never seen trees ..,jured
by them, and they were beneficial birds In
his estimation.
OF the birds which ate their food upon
the ground there was first the thrushes,
including the robin, the tawny thrush, the
brown thrush and the cat bird. From his
examination OF the maws Of the robin no
had very little TO say in Its favor, AS they
were very destructive 10 cherries and 9th.
er fruits, and ate very few insects. chic lily
| cOeoplera--and then when il could not
get fruit; the catbird WAS allied 10 the
robin, and like II was destructive To rasp-
/ berries; the tawny and brown thrushe3
were almost exclusively insectivorous.
! The food of til" blackbird family--which
include the red.winged blackbird, the
crow blackb bird the cav Bird the meadow
lark and the Oriolo-- consists largely OF
beetles and lavg; the crow blaCkbird,
however, lived almost entirely on grain
while the cav bird like the European
cuckoo, was decidedly Injurious by lay
ing its eggs in the nests OF other and ben
ehClal birds, whose young were generally
starved to death, owing TO the greater SIZE
and more clamorous appetite of the In
trudlng brood; the red winged blackbird
/ fed on larye ol beetles in the spring, but
/ In the fall II devoured grain.
About % per cent. Of the food Of the
meadow lark consisted OF beetles and
other insects, the remainder being yegeta-
bic food, bat OF what kind he had been
unable to ascertain. The BsthUrue oriole
was beneficial 20 the farmer The spar
rows were all pretty much grain feeders,
though the gray bird or chipping sparrow
fed largely on insects. One variety, the
purple finch, dcyoured the buds OF trees,
and WAS injurious on that account. The
indiga bra fed mostly on the seed OF grass
and weeds. The English sparrow seeds
about equally on seeds and insects, Dat he
mad not examined their stomschs II was
doubtful whether It's importation would
prove a benefit or an injury. The canary
FED chiefly Oh small seeds, but its young
dtyOured good many insects He be.
leyed the house wrsn fed entirely on in
srcls pnd their larye, and like IL black
capped lit, or chickadee, was entirely ben.
efCia the war wing, or cherry bird, WAS
never injurious 10 fruit, and the bu cher
bird was an enemy TO the farmer by kill
ing small iDsectiyerous birds; the Jay and
hawk were injurious for the same reason;
the crow fed srgely on grain.