Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-02-02

The utility of birds in agriculture, particu-
larly the utility of certain species of birds.
has been the subject of much discussion for
many years Audubon and perhaps other of
the earlier naturalists did not always have the
means with which to publish the knowledge
they gained concerning the habits of the birds
and animals which they watched, and some
of the latter ornithologsts have found the
field of discovery so large that they have had
little time to do more than describe the dis
tinguishing features of the numerous species
The farmer has formed opinions concerning
the good and evil done by the birds which in
habit his fields and find protection about his
buildings, but often these opinions have been
formed without that careful method of obser-
walton required to determine fact or settle
a question beyond dispute.
The variety of opinions held by different
persons concerning the real value of the Eng
lish sparrow brought to this country some
years ago, and the crow and robin SO COM
mon in our fields, is an illustration of the diff
Guilty ordinary observers experience in COM
ing to unanimous conclusion. Prof w. A.
Stearns, of the Massachusetts Agricultural
College, in his recent address before the Con-
necticut State Board of Agriculture, discussed
the bird question from the standpoint of an
educated observer, who has given many years
of study to his subject, aud yet he was far
from claiming that he knew all that ought to
be known even about some of our commouest
species.
Hawks are strictly birds of prey and th, Y
are injurious when they catch our chickens
and the young of our useful small birds ben.
ehcial when they destroy mice or other ami
mails which are our enemies. The crow is also
bird that is both useful and injurious to the
farmer. He is a grain-eating bird, though
when driven to it he will catch chickens, eat
eggs and destroy young birds in their nests
and pick up insects. When corn is within
easy reach he will take little else The be,
lief that crows pull up the feeble corn plants
to get the worm gnawing at the roots, is fall
lacy. Nor do they destroy the cut worm
which does so much mischief in our corn
fields, for this worm works only by night and
the crow only by day after the cut worm has
buried himself out of sight in the earth.
The robin also accommodates itself to a
mixed diet, taking fruit in its season, but liv-
ing almost wholly upon worms in the early
and later portions of the year, and feeding its
young almost exclusively upon insect food
If the robin gets too mischievous he recon-
mends taking number of him for a pot pie,
as he is very good game bird when fat. 1t
is probable, however, that the fruit eaten by
therobin is not in excess of what would be de-
stroyed by the insects he eats early in the
spring, if they were left to do their work.
The swallow he pronounced useful as it
lives on minute winged insects which in their
larva state destroy our grain. single nest
of swallows will require about 800, 600 insects
during the three weeks of their growth. The
blue bird clears our lawns, but sometimes may
drive away other birds that might do still
more good. The king bird nesting near our
dwellings will sometimes protect the cherries
from being taken by robins, not on its own
account, but because he will let no other birds
come near his domicile. The blue Jay does
some mischief destroying eggs and young
birds, but helps us very much by planting
forest tree seeds everywhere. The pretty lit
tie chickadee is fighter and destroyer of
birds eggs, but does much good by eating in
scots and insects eggs, which he hunts for
most industriously.
OF the eighteen insect-eating birds com
mon in Massachusetts, thirteen stay with us
all the year round, while many of the migra-
tory species come aud go as their food is
plenty or scarce. The migratory birds are
always hungry in spring, busy catching in
sects for their young in summer and getting
thin in flesh while feeding their young they
are good feeders in the autumn. The Eng
fish sparrow he feared would yet prove a
great pest when it becomes more abundant
In Australia, where it was introduced a few
few years ago, there is now bounty oftwelve
cents per head paid by the government DR..
Sturtevant had found it destroying pear buds,
and others charged 1t with disbudding the