Dodge City times., 1883-02-08
Birds on the Farm.

The utility of birds in agriculture,
particularly the utility of certain species
of birds, has been the subject of much
discussion for many years. Audubon
and perhaps other of the earlier natural
lists id not always have the means with
which to publish the knowledge they
gain d concerning the habits of the
birds and animals which they watched,
and some of the later ornithOlogists
have found the field of discovery so
large that they have had little time to
do more than describe the distinguishing
features of the numerous species. The
farmer has formed opinions concerning
the good and evil done by the birds
which inhabit his fields and find protec-
ton about his buildings. but often these
opinions have been formed without that
careful method of observation required
to determine fact or settle question
beyond dispute.
The variety of opinions held by differ
ent persons concerning the real value
of the English sparrow brought to this
country some years ago, and the crow
and robin, so common in our fields. is
an illustration of the difficulty ordinary
observers experience in coming to a
unanimous conclusion. Prof. W. A.
Stearns, of the Massachusetts Agricult-
ural College, in hi S recent address be-
fore the Connecticut State Board of
Agriculture, discussed the bird question
from the standpoint of an educated obser-
yer, who has given many years of study
to his subject, and yet he was far from
claiming that he knew all that ought to
be known even about some of our COM
moEest species.
Hawks are strictly birds of prey and
they are injurious when they catch our
chickens and the young of our useful
small birds; beneficial when they de-
stroy mice or other animals which arc
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 belief that crows
pull up the feeble corn plants to get the
worm gnawing at the roots, is fallacy.
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 buriei himself out of sightin
the earth.
The robin also accommodates itself
TO a mixed diet, taking fruit in its sea-
son. but living almost wholly upon
worms in the early and later portions
of the year, and feeding its young al
most exclusively upon insect food. If
the robin gets too mischievous he rec
ommends taking a number OF him for q
pot-pie, as he is very good game bird
when fat. 1t is probable, however, that
the fruit eaten by the robin is not in ex-
cess of what would be destroyed 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. A single nest of swallows will
require about 500, 900 insects during the
three weeks of their growth. The
blue bird clears our lawns, but some
times 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 de-
stroying eggs and young birds, but
helps us very much by planting forest
tree seeds everywhere. The pretty little
chickadee is a fighter and destroyer of
birds eggs, but does much good by eat
ing insects and insects eggs, which he
hunts for most industriously.
OF the eighteen insect eating birds
thirteen stay with US all the year round.
while may of the migratory species
come and go as their food is plenty; or
scarce. The migratory birds are always
hungry in spring, busy catching insects
for their young in summer and getting
thin in flesh while feeding their young;