Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-12-27
Birds ana horticulture.


The natural enemy of the bird seems
to be man. The child finds strange en-
joyment In throwing stones at the little
warblers, and robbing birds nests, un-
I'll he becomes old enough to fire gun,
when he proceeds to shoot at anything
that has feathers upon it; and when he
becomes a full fledged man, if he hap
pens to adopt farming or horticulture,
as business, his deepest study is how
to rid the world of birds. There are ex-
ceptions, of course, though there is proba-
bly, no one who does not wish that he
might get rid of some kinds of birds. IF
there is any one thing that deserves the
thanks of the horticulturist more than
another, it is the bird. The little fellow
eats some fruit. but suppose he does.
He gets nothing for his work but his
board, and he does great deal OF valu-
able work. OF course there are value
less birds, or those that are compare
lively Yalueless, and the doctrine of the
survival of the fttest ought to operate
in their case. We suppose that there is
no doubt that the English sparrow is of
this class. In the first place where this
fellow is, other birds are not. He
drives out everything in the shape of
wild bird. Some years ago English
tract of land. Boston Common. 1t was
only a short time before all other birds
disappeared. If the sparrow would
fully take the place of all the other
birds, the case would be different. But
that is not the case. While many of
our other birds do little damage to our
fruit, the depredations, of the sparrow
are of the most disastrous character,
They take the seed out Of the ground.
the bud before il is ripe. In Australia,
where they are very numerous, they are
said to ruin cherries, apples, grapes,
peaches, plums, pears, peas, cabbage,
wheat, barley, and garden vegetation
generally. So great nuisance is this
bird there, that a most determined eff
| fort has been made to eXterminate it
| If the sparrow will do these things in
! Australia, it viii do it in the United
States, and, therefore, we guess the
English sparrow must go.
But our birds generally, prefer insects
to fruit. When the ground is dry and
fruit is ripe, they will eat some of the
fruit. But if any one wishes to test the
birds partially for insects, let him be-
| gin to pillow in the neighborhood of fruit
trees in which there seems to be swarms
of birds, and see howsquickly they will
90 IOr the worms ana OGn0E insects Ils1b
the pillow has enabled them to get at.
It is said that pair of thrushes have
been seen to carry nearly one hundred
caterpillars to their young in one hours
time. This sort of food is just what the
young bird must have. Many of the
smaller birds leave Southern climate
/ to breed either in temperate or cold
climate, because in the latter they can
find soft insect Larvae to feed their
young upon, while at just that time, IN
| a warm climate the Larvae have changed
to winged insects.
| Indiscriminate warfare upon our feath-
cred friends is, therefore, not only cruel
but it is inimical to our own best in
terests. Every boy should be taught
| that he is to treat the birds about the
| garden and on the farm kindly. He
should be taught early that they do an
important part of the farm and horticul-
tural work, and that he must not only
! let them alone, but do all he may to in
vite their presence. Birds will become
very tame if they are not disturbed in
their visits to the garden and orchard.
They will destroy twenty-five destruc-
tive insects to every cherry that they ru-
in, and, perhaps, each twenty-five in
sects would destroy an entire tree Of
fruit HeSteT72 Rural.
|