The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-10-23
What Birds Fat.

LII leCcnt auurcSS william II Sanders,
the well known Canadian ornthologist.
gave an account of some insectivorons birds
that were worthy of encouragement. He
said lie had been engaged in the study of
olrds Tor the last seven or eight years, and
had examined the crops of probably about
2oo; OF tho birds which were purely nsecti-
vorous, the most common was the large fan.i-
ly OF warblers, 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 wing were the y-catch-
ers, which include the king bird and the
peewee; their food was chiefly flies. Moths
were numerously caught by nighthawks,
and these together with the swallows he
considered birds beneficial to the farmer
and fruitgrower. Of the birds which fed
partly on the wing and partly on trees, the
food of the yellow warbler consisted chiefly
OF larv@ and eggs of moths, which they
took from the leaves of trees; the vir< DIS and
cuckoos were birds of the same class and
similarly beneficial. The bluebird fed
mostly on insects, though 1t might take
grain when it's tavorite diet was not obtain
able. The insects devoured by the last
described class of birds were mostly lniuri-
GUS to the orChardist and the farmer. The
nuthatch, which was very common bird,
stayed i'll these ATTITUDES the year round,
and lived almost entirely on insects and
their eggs, and chrysaldcs. The wood
peckers mostly took their food upon trees
Tho redhcadcd variety were generally con-
sidered pest on account Of their devour-
ing 80 much fruit, chiefly cherries and ap-
PIES The high holder woodpecker, though
it occasionally ate few cherries, was on
the whole bird which should be protected,
owing to the number Of insects it devourcd.
The hairy and downy woodpeckers and the
ycllowbellied varity were commonly, but
he believed unjustly, denominated tap suck
ers, and accused of destroying fruit and other
trees by extracting the sap from them. He
had never seen trees injured by them, and
they were beneficial birds in his estima-
ton.
OF the birds which ate their food upon
the ground there was first the thrushcs, IN
Guiding the robin, the tawny thrush, the
brown thrush, and the cat-bird. From
his examination of the maws of the robin
he had very little to say in its favor, as
they were very destructive to cherries and
other fruits, and ate very few insects-chie-
| fly colcoptera, and then when 1t could not
get fruit: the cat-bird wasallied to the robin,
and llkeit was destructive to raspberrles; the
tawny and brown thrushes were almost ex
c)Hsivcly insectivorous. The food of the
blackbird family-which include the red
winged blackbird, the crow blackbird, the
cav bird, the meadow lark and the oriolc
consists largely of beetles and larve; the
crow blackblrd, however, lived almost en-
tirely on grain; while the cav bird, like the
European cuckoo. was decidedly injurious
by laying its eggs in the nests of other and
beneficial birds, whose young were gener-
| ally starved to death, owing to the greater
size and more clamorous appetite of the in
truding brood; the red-winged blackb,rd
fed on larvae of beetles in the spring, but
in the fall it devoured grain.
About 25 per cent. Of the food of the
meadow lark consists of beetles and other
insects, the remainder being vegetable food,
but OF what kind he had been unable to as
certain. The Bathurnc oriole was benifi
cial to the farmer, The sparrows were all
pretty much grain feeders, though the gray
bird or chipping sparrow fed largely on in
aects. One variety, tho purple finch, de-
voured the buds of trees, and was Injurious
on that account. The indigo bird fed
mostly on the seed of grass and weeds.
The English sparrow feeds about equally
On seeds and insects, but he had not exam
ined their stomachs. 1t was doubtful
whether Its importation would prove be-
netit or an injury. The canary fed chiefly
On small seeds, but its young devoured a
good many insects. He believed the house
WI en- fed entirely OIL insects and their lar
we, and like the blackcapped tit, or chicka.
dee, was entirely benefcial; the war wing,
OF, cherry bird, was never Injurious to fruit,
and the butcher bird was an enemy to the
farmer by killing small inscctivcrous birds;
the jay and hawk were injurious for the
same reason; the crow fed largely on grain.
1t is said that in tho Welsh lam
guage an III fld ell book does not exist.