Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-05-16
SANDERS on Birds Refuted.

DR.. G. Hart Merriam, chief of the
division of ornithology of the Agricult-
ural Department, has been for several
years engaged in examining and ana
lying the contents of the stomachs Of
hawks, owls, crows, blackbirds, mead
ow larks and other birds of North
America which are supposed to be
strikingly beneficial OF injurious to the
crops of farmers.
The stomachs of over 1000 birds,
at different seasons of the year, have
been already analysed and the con-
tents determined, while some $4,000
are still unexamined. The results in
some cases have been remarkable,
showing in several notable instances
that popular ideas regarding the in
furious effects of certain birds were
wholly mistaken, and that they have
been the victims of unjust prosecution.
This had been found to be especially
the case with hawks and owls, for the
slaughter of which many states give
bounties. Pennsylvania in two years
gave over 100000 in hawk and owl
bounties. Examinations of the stom-
achs of these birds proved conclusive
ly that 50 per cent Of their food was
field mice grasshoppers, crickets, ETC.,
which were infinitely more injurious to
farm crops than they. 1t was found
that only five kinds Of hawks and owls
ever touched poultry, and then only to
a very limited extent. a bulletin now
about going to press on the crow also
shows that bird is not so black as he
is painted by the farmer. The charges
against the crow were that he ate corn
and destroyed the eggs of poultry
and wild birds. Examination of their
stomachs showed that they eat noxious
insects and other animals, and that
although % per cent Of their food Is
corn, it is mostly waste corn picked
up in the fall and winter. With re-
gard to eggs, it was found that the
shells were eaten to a very limited ex-
tent for the lime. They eat ants,
beetles, caterpillars, bugs, flies, grubs,
ETC., which do much damage. Bulle-
tins are also being prepared on the
cuckoo and other black birds, meadow
larks, king birds, cedar birds, thrushes,
catbirds, .sparrows, etc. In many
cases popular ideas are found to be
untrue. In the case Of the king
bird, killed by the farmer under
the impression that he eats bees,
it was found that he ate only drones
and robber flies, which themselves
feed on bees, and which destroy more
bees in day than the king bird does
in year. The king bird, therefore,
is to be encouraged rather than slaugh-
tered. The cuckoos are also found to
be very useful birds in this country.
Because the European cuckoo robbed
nests and laid therein its own eggs,
popular fancy attributed the same
vicious habit to our own cuckoo. He
is, however, not depraved like his
European namesake, but a very de-
cent fellow, who does much good in
the destruction of insects. The result
of this work, DR.. Merriam says, will
inure to the protection of beneficial
birds and the destruction Of injurious.
1t will also, he says, do missionary
work in the matter of state bounties,
most of which are ill-directed, and
none of which, he thinks have good
results. The crusade, for instance
against the English sparrow he said
resulted in the destruction of many Of
our native sparows. Bounties on
panthers, wolves, etc, had in the past
resulted in the manufacture of bogus
scalps.
DR.. Merriam is also preparing a
map showing the life zones Of the
United States for birds, mammals, rep
tiles and plants, a work on which he
has been engaged for sixteen years.
Weeds in the Future.