The herald., 1894-07-13
DO NOT KILL THEM.
BIRDS THAT ARE REAL AIDS TO FARM
ERS AND GARDENERS.

Much Abused Hawk and Owl Render
Valuable Service and 10 Slight Harm.
no decent person who knows the
value Of birds that sing whether their
notes be harsh or sweet voiced, will
ever kill singing bird, )" said a natu-
ralist Thousands of birds that are of
inestimable value to the farmer as well
as to the town dweller who grows fruit
or keeps a 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 fiit
about their premises, for then they
would defend and protect them and i'll
time have them back in something like
their old time numbers and variety.
How often nowadays does one see the
saucy, rich voiced, nervous little wren?
A few years ago it was seen and heard
everywhere, but it must be favored To-
cality that it visits now. Yet the little
wren was a most rGycnous devouror OF
the pestiferous and destructive cutworl1
of tho gardens and did great work to-
ward lessening the damage done by the
pest of the sell The bright littlo blue
bird clears the air and the ground Of
thousands of Goblin moths and oanker-
worms during a season.
"Tho crow blackbird has no peace at
tho hands Of man, yet flock of them
in short time will clear anewly plant
cd field of all its hosts of destructive
larvn that the plow turns up. The great
American crow itself would do the same
thing if it WASH t for the inevitable man
with gun that just wants the crow
to try it once Neither the blackbird
nor the crow cares as much for corn as
it does for grubs, and if farmers would
scatter corn about their fields instead Of
putting up scsreoroHs and the like those
misunderstood birds would never pull
up hill of his planting. The chances
are anyhow that If the agriculturist will
take the trouble TO examine hill of
young corn that he charges tho crow
with pulling up he will find that it was
cut off by grub of some kind, and that
tho crow was simply mining for the
grub, not the corn.
'The robin, it cannot be denied. is 8
sore trial to the man who has fruit
trees and bushes, bat if he could only
bring himself to stop and think how
m:ly thousands Of rayaging insects that
are tho especial enemies Of his trees and
bushes that the robin destroys, both be-
fore the fruit has ripened and for weeks
after it is gone, he would not begrudge
the bird the few quarts of cherries or
berries that it lovies on as partial salts
faction Of the debt the grower owes
him The Same may be said OF the other
thrushes-for the robin is thrush
the cherry birds, orioles, blue jays and
many other birds of that clcss. These
birds never levy tribute on grain or
seeds, but they do the farmer untold
benefit.
"The climbing birds arc the different
varieties Of woodpeckers, and they aro
constantly befriending growing things,
Whenever a woodpecllor is heard tap
ping on a troe it is tho doathlnoll Of
tho Larvae Of some destructive insect.
Yet it is not an uncommon thing to see
indpstriously at work following with lis
gun the birds red head from tree tc
tree until the opportunity comes fol
him to send load of shot into the un-
suspecting feathered philanthropist. II
is n pet belief among farmers that tho
wocdpecl5er kills tho tree it works on,
and that he is working for that very
purpose 1t is fact that the common
little sapsucEer does injure trees, but
the woodpecker never does. Quito the
contrary The white breasted nut hatch
and the little gray creepor-so general
ly confounded with the sapsucler-liye
exclusively on tree insects, yet the nut
hatch is in bad repute among many
farmers because they believe it kills
their bees.
t'The meadow lark is another bird
that has little peace on any ones land,
for there is mistaken notion abroad
that he is a game bird. He is game il
the quality of being alert and hard tt
get q shot at, but is no more entitled tc
be so classified than the flicker or high.
holder is. The meadow lark is a con
stant feeder Oh underground larvae, and
whatever he is disturbed he is simply
driven away from active work in rid
ding the grcr,nd Of the worst kinds o.
farm pests. The blue jay may be saiC
to be indirectly an enemy to the farmer
as well as friend, for it has the bat
habit of destroying the eggs of othel
birds that do only good.
''If there is one bird that the farmer
loves to do all in his power to extermi
nate more than he does the crow, unless
it may be the hawk, that bird is tn,
owl. He can't be brought to the belle
that if it were not for the owls and tht
hawks his fields would be overrun ant
burrowed by field mice to such an e2i
tent that his crops would be in per
petual danger; that owls, while ou
mousing feed on lnyriads of night fly
ing moths and beetles, thus preventing
the laying Of millions upon millions 0
the eggs of these insects and that the,
not only keep the field mice down, bu
lessen the number of domestic mice ant
rats about barns and outhouses to al
extent that a small army Of the mos
vigilant cats could not surpass AS T.
the hawk, the farmer remembers tina
on some occasion one carried off chick
en- for him, and therefore the fact tha
the big soaring bird daily kills man