Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-11-29
Birds To Be Spared.

inestimable value to the farmer, as
we'll as to the town dweller who grows
fruit or keeps garden are slaughtered
ruthlessly every year.
THE farmer, the gardener, and the
fruit grower should know more about
the birds that nest and sing and fit
about their premises, for then they
would defend and protect them, and
in time have them back in something
! like their old-time numbers and varle-
ty. 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 locality that it visits now.
Yet the little wren was most raven
Gus devourer of the pestiterous and
destructive cut worm of the gardens
and did great work toward lessening
the damage done by this pest of the
soil. The bright little bluebird clears
the air and the ground Of thousands OF
Goblin moths and canker worms during
a season.
THE crow blackbird has no peace
at the hands of man, yet flock OF
them in a short time will clear new
ly planted field of all its hosts of de-
structive Larvae that the plow turns
up. The great American crow itself
would do the same thing if it WASH t
for the inevitable man with a gun
that Just wants the crow to try 1t once.
Neither the blackbird nor'the crow
cares as much for corn as 1t does for
prubs. and if farmers would scatter
corn about their fields, instead of put
ting up scarecrows and the like, those
misunderstood birds would never pull
up a hill of his planting. The chances
are, anyhow, that if the agriculturaLst
will take the trouble to examine a hill
of young corn that he charges the crow
with pulling up he will find that 1t
was cut off by a grub of some kind,
and that the crow was simply mining
for the grub, not the corn.
"The robin, it cannot be denied, Is
a sore trial to the man who has fruit
trees and bushes, but if he could only
bring himself to stop and think how
many thousand of ravaging insects that
are the especial enemies OF ms trees
and bushes that the robin destroys,
both before the fruit has ripened and
for weeks after it is gone, he would
not begrudge the few quarts OF cherries
or berries that it levies on as partial
satisfaction of the debt the grower owes
him. The same may be said OF the
other thrushes-for the robin Is a
thrush-the cherry birds, orioles, blue
Jays and many other birds of that class
These birds never levy tribute on grain
or seeds, but they DO the farmer un-
told benefit.
"The climbing birds are the different
variety Of woodpeckers, and they are
constantly befriending growing things
Whenever woodpecker is heard tap
ping on tree it is the death knell Of
the larva of some destructive insect
Yet it is not an uncommon thing tC
see the very person for whom this blrc
is industriously at work following with
his gun the birds red head from tree
to tree until the opportunity comes ioi
him to send a load of shot into the un'
suspecting feathered philanthroPist. II
is a pet belief among farmers that the
woodpecker kills the tree it works on
and that he is working for that very
purpose. It's fact that the common
little sapsucker does injure trees, but
the woodpecker never does. Quite the
contrary. The white breasted nut
hatch and the little gray creePer-sc
generally confounded with the sap
sucker-live exclusively on tree IN
sects, yet the nuthatch is in bad repute
among many of the farmers because
they believe II kills their bees.
The meadow lark is another bird
that has little peace on anyOne's land
for there is a mistaken notion abroad
that he is a game bird He Is game
In the quality OF being aIert aho
hard to get shot at, but Is no more
entitled to be so classified than the
flicker or highholder is. The meadow
lark is a constant feeder on under
ground lary@ and whenever he Is dis
turbed he is simply driven away from
active work in ridding the ground o
the worst kind of farm pests. Th'
blue jay may be said to be indirectly
an enemy to the farmer as well as
friend, for he has the bad habit Of de
strOying the eggs OfOther birds that Dc
only good.
"Tf there is one bird that the farmel