The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-27
BIRDS HERE ONCE MORE
PROF. LUGGER SAYS IT DOES NOT
MEAN EARLY SPRING
Blue Birds From Mexico, Horned
Lari<s, Robins, Sand-PiDers, Fox
and Ground SparrOws and the
Flowers, Which Winter I'm South
America. Have All Put in an APP
pearunce-Are All beneficial.

The birds have come!
The horned lark whose name is taken
from the four small tufts of feathers
he wears on his saucy head has been
here since the wind first exposed the
ground, and he and his mate have been
/ carefully watching nest full of eggs
for the last two weeks.
The blue birds came last Monday
way up from Mexico, and have begun
to look out for promising nesting places
in the low valleys among the hills
around St. Paul.
! sand-pipers with their long legs, and
the plovers which winter in Central
and South America.
The ducks are here as may be testi-
fed to by truthful restaurant keepers,
and the geese have passed.
The fox and grOund-sparrows and
the snow buntings came ten days ago
and covered the ground like so many
mice.
But" said Prof. Lugger, Of the state
| school yesterday, the early arrival Of
! the birds is not to be depended upon as
an indication of an early spring. Three
! years ago the birds came early and
| later there was a bad fall of snow and
for days | had the neighbOrs all about
here emptying the siftings in the grain
! cries all about on the ground, and hun
over till the snow melted.
"All the birds that have come now
are beneficial They eat the seeds
! of the worst Of our weeds and the
! cut and earth worms. and do no harm.
! The earth worms We're out during the
| warm weather, but have all gone way
| back in the ground.
1.-THE ants also came up with the eggs
! of the aphis which they winter, but the
| cold sent those all back. In that way
! the ants do US a great deal of harm,
though in other ways they are bene-
! fetal. They winter over the eggs of
the grain lice, which otherwise would
be killed off by the frost.
THE ground beetles are out and they
are also beneficial, as they eat smaller
insects. Later they sometimes eat the
pollen Of the grains, but even then they
| are apt to do the same good the bees
do by the flowers.
81 saw three robins in my yard yes
| terday. They wintered at the Atlantic
| coast.
Last year couple of blue birds
made a nest in our letter box and they
! actually pulled the letters out to make
| room for their nest I have artificial
nests all about and for the house
| wrens 7 have made such small OPEN
| ings for the nests the English spar
rows cannot get in. They can poke
their heads IN ana ScOld, put they can
| do no harm.
| The birds you see now occupying the
nests high up in the sand cliffs along
| the river are English sparToWs NO.
| they do not make those holes. They
are winter boarders. The cliff swal-
| lows make the holes which run way
| back, a foot sometimes into the soft
| rock. They have long sharp claws
with which they hang on to the sand,
| tbay- oci11 boil thhi.,
sharp beaks. They will come back
pretty soon and drive the sparrows
| out.
when I was in Mankato some time
ago I noticed something in one of the
! big arc lights. And there up in the
| top of the frame of the light was q
| martins nest Every light had its
nest. I laughed a good deal about it
They will be having reading tables
next"