The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-08-02
DO NOT KILL THEM.
BIRDS THAT ARE REAL AIDS TO FA1sAt-
ERs AND GARDENERS.

The Harm They DO Is Small CompaRea -
tine Good They Accomplish- -Evsm che
Much Abused Hawk and Owl Reader
valuable Service and 1So slight Ha~m-
''No decent person who knows the
salue of birds that sing, whether their
notes be harsh or sweet voiced, Will
ever kill singing bird, said . natu-
ralist. Thousands OF birds that ere Of /
inestimable value TO the farmer - well
% TO the town dweller who grows fruit |
or keeps garden are slaughtered ruth
lessly every year.
"The farmer, the gardener and the
fruit grower should know more about |
the birds that nest and sing and flis
about their premises, for then they
would defend and protect them and LII
time have them back I'm something Lie
their old time numbers and variety.
How often nowadays does one zee the
saucy, rich voiced, nervous little wrens
a few years ago it was seen and heard
everywhere, but it must be favored lo-
| cality that it visits now. Yet the little
wren was most ravenous devourer Of
the pestiferous and destructive cutworm
| of the gardens and did great work to-
ward lessening the damage done by the
pest of the soil The bright little blue
bird clears the air and the ground OF
| thousands of Goblin moths and canlker-
worms during season
''The crow blackbird has no peace at
the hands Of man, yet q flock OF them
| in o short time will clear anewly plant
ed field of all it's hosts Of destructive
larvse that the plow turns mp. The greae
American crow itself would do the same
thing IL it wasn't for the inevitable man
with O gun that just wants the crow
to try 10 once Neither the blackbaxd'
nor the crow cares as much for corn as
it does for grubs, and IL farmers would
scatter corn about their fields instead or
putting mp scarecrows and the like those
misunderstood birds would never pull
up O hill Of his planting The chances
are anyhow that Ii the agriculturist Will
! take the trouble to examine hill OF
young corn that he charges the crow
with pulling up he will find that it was
cut of by grub of some kind, and that
the crow was simply mining for the
grub, not the corn.
s'The robin, it cannot be denied. ID q
! sore trial to the man who has fruit
trees and bushes, but III he could only
: bring himself to stop and think how
many thousands Of ravaging insects thai
are the especial enemies of his trees and
D bushes that the robin destroys, both 30,
a fore the fruit has ripened and for weeks
. after ID is gone, he would not begrudgf
the bird the few quarts of cherries a
berries that it levies ON as partial satis-
. faction OF the debt the grower .owei
/, him. The same may be said OF the othes
r thrushes-for the robin is thrush
v the cherry birds, orioles, blue jays ant
= many other birds of that class Thess
birds never levy tribute ON grain q
seeds, but they do the farmer nntols
9 s'The climbing birds are the difgeren
q varieties Of woodpeckerss and they ar'
10 constantly befriending growing things
It Whenever woodpecker Ii heard top
!. ping ON O tree, Ii il the deathhmeM O
: the larv@ Of some destructive insect
Yet it is not an uncommon thing 10 %
% the very person for whom this bird !
A industri6usly at work following with h
10 gum the birds red head froxn tree =
III tree until the opportunity comes 10
AL him to send load Of shot into the nm
!. suspecting feathered philanthropist.
Ia pet belief among farmers that tn
= woodpecker kills the tree it works on
70 and that he Ia working for that YER
N purpose. It is fact that the commo
" little sapsucker does injure trees, bu
"a the woodpecker never does. Cutie th
a contrary. The white breasted nut hate
, and the little gray creeper- $50 general
ly confounded with the sapsucker -liv
u exclusively ON tree insects, yet the nu
y hatch is In bad repute among man
farmers because they believe it Kill
r. their bees.
- 1.-THE meadow lark In another bir
: that has little peace ON any ones LAND
: for there il mistaken notion abroa
50 that he is game bird. He Ii game
y. the quality Of being alert and hard
ct Qet q shot at, but is no more entitled
Id be 90 classified than the flicker or higl
q. holder H. The meadow lark il o coi
q stant feeder on underground larve,s aI,
- whatever. he Ia disturbed be ID simpl
a driven away from active work La ri
% ding the ground of the worst kinds j
I'D farm pests. The blue jay may be sai
as to be indirectly an enemy 70 the farms
at AZ we'll as o friend. for IL has the b
IT. habit of destroying the eggs Of 9th
IA birds that do only good
- Eff there 10 one bird that the farm
= loves to do all In his power to EXTERN
nate more than he does the crow, unle
it may be the hawk, that bird is q
oil. owl He can't be brought to the bell
rd that if it were not for the owls and u
tot hawks his fields would be overrun ~
IL burrowed by field mice 10 such an Q
:. TENT that his crops would be in pc
- pstual danger; that owls while .
ne mousing, feed On myriads Of night q
Or ind moths and beetles, thus preyentil
srs the laying CT millions upon millions
.rd the eggs Of these insects and that th
n. not only Keep the field mice down. ,
I. lessen the number of domestic mice u