The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-01
THE VALUE OF BIRDS TO, NORTH CARO-
LIMA AGRICULTURE.
Importance as Insect Destroysrs- -Three.Hun.
dred Species not Protected by Law
Reckless Destruction of our
FeathOred Friends.


to man, it may be new idea that
their usefulness IS a very pronounced
reality; this usefulness lies chiefly in
the service they render as destroyers
of insects which are injurious to veg
citation, as consumers of small rodents,
as 'destroyers of large quantities of
seeds of noxious plants, and as scaven-
gers. Birds constitute the chief force
in keeping down the surplus number
of insects which otherwise would be
far more destructive to the agricul-
tural products of the country. As mat
ters now exist, one-tenth of the entire
agricultural product of the United
States each year is a total loss through
the inroads of insects, and we are told
that owing to the decreasing number
of birds, this percentage is annually
increasing. The work which birds do
simply as preventives is enormous.
The young of some species eat more
than their own weight of insect food
daily. The adult birds of many kinds
subsist chiefly on an insect diet, and
two-thirds of the varieties found in
North Carolina are almost wholly in
sectivorous, Birds digest their food
so rapidly that it is difficult to esti-
mate the real amount which they con-
sumo. It is known, however, that a
swallow will eat six or seven hundred
flies in day! The stomach of a
cuckoo shot at six O'Clock in the morn
ing, contained twenty three tent-cat-
erpillars partly digested; how many
would have been destroyed by evening
cannot well be estimated. The stom-
achs of chickadees not infrequently
have been found to contain over two
hundred eggs of the canker worm, and
as many as twenty-five of the female
moths, each holding over one hundred
eggs. It has been estimated that dur
ing the one month that these insects
infest the trees, each chickadee would
destroy over 100000 eggs. A pewee,
which I once watched, captured six
teen insects during a period of ten
minutes. The bird would dart out
few yards, seize a passing insect and
return at once to her lookout perch.
When some hours later I again saw the
bird, she was still busy at her work.
The real value of birds as insect
destroyers has not been appreciated
generally. One reason for this is that
their work is not apparent to the cas-
ual observer, who rarely sees a bird
except when it is alarmed, and there
fore is not feeding. Superficial OBJ
servation has been a cause for much
suffering to birds, and a great pecu-
MARY loss on the part of observers.
We, as a people, have failed to OBJ
serve carefully the feeding habits of
our feathered friends, and thus have
not learned their intrinsic value. For
the same reason we have not been suf-
fciently interested in their preserva-
tion to enact adequate laws for the
protection of non-game birds. There
have been recorded in North Carolina
312 species of birds. Three hundred
of these species are not protected by
the laws of the State except in a few
counties Public sentiment is so lax
in many sections that these laws are
really little better than no laws at all.
There is scarcely bird within the
limits of our Commonwealth that is
not regarded as a legitimate mark for
any gun. Numbers of men and boys
in almost every section of the country
at times shoot non-game birds indis-
criminately. Thousands of chimney
swifts, swallows, martins, and night
hawks (bullbats) are shot every sum-
mer Gust to see them fall" The
small boy plumbers the nests of their
eggs for his collection" and does so
unrestrained by parental authority.
Our sea birds have been almost exter-
minated by the plume hunters, who
gather the, feathers for the great mil
merry houses. In some sections of the
central and eastern portions of the
State thousands of young mocking
birds are annually taken from their
nests by people who attempt to rear
them by hand as singers for the ever
ready northern and western markets.
irresponsible parties wandering about
the fields, without the least instincts