Durango semi-weekly herald., 1903-02-02
JUST WHAT THE BIRDS ARE
ABLE TO DO FOR US

The value OF the bird TO the farmer
Is as a destroyer of the insects which
suggested and experiment demonstrat-
ed that. IN sections where bird life
decreases. deprcdatIons to crops of
fruit. grain and general garden truck
Increase. despite spraying and innum-
cradle chemical devices to arrest the
march of the destroying insect. Out
ing for January presents an able and
timely argument for the birds. The
author of the argument emphasizes
some OF the things which Professor
Attwater's Investigations have prov
ed" The argument proceeds as fol
lows:
Now. insects and worms constitute
practically the whole food OF birds
Swallows and swifts course the upper
air; fy-catchers lie In wait In the TO
liage. warblcrs explore the leaves and
blossoms. and the vireos carefully
search the more secluded hooks.
which perhaps the warblers over
look. The trunks and limbs of the
trees are the feeding grounds of the
woodpecker. nutthatch and the creeL
er. No inch of the tree bark is left
unexamined by these Industrious
birds for insects eggs and larvae or
ants. or the boring worms which may
be heard within the bark. On the
by the thrushes, sparrows and other
birds: and at the close of day the
night-hawks and whip-poor-wills. ac-
cording to Mr. Frank Chapman, take
up the chase. catching moths and
other nocturnal insects which have es-
capped day-hying birds. Cranes. herons
and bitterns feed on crawfish. which
do great damage to the planters OF the
south by making holes in the embank-
ments of their rice fields"
Thus we see, as the article contin.
ues, that the hunting is wide and thor
ough. How successful It Is may be
appreciated by the results of Profes-
sor Attwater's Investigations. For
example. the stomach of single quail
was found to contain 101 potato bugs
that of another quail 500 chinch bugs
'b1hpo SiioN 1T U u 'iJIh liit II
ing contained 43 caterpillars; another
shot at the same time, PIT wei
worms robin. 175 caterpillars
The stomachs of four chickadees con
tanned 1.02s eggs of canker worms
four other chickadees contained coo
| eggs and 105 mature insects. Pro
fessor Attwater says that single
chickadee will eat 5000 eggs of the
canker worm in a single day, and thai
barn swallows will destroy from 5000
to 10000 flies and other insects every
week The crop of one dove killed
contained 1900 weed seeds. The
young of n pair of jays, observed by
DIR. Brewer. were fed half million
caterpilars in season. A young
kept in captivity, required 60 earth
worms day. A mother wren made
ten visits to her little ones in fouI
hours and thirty-seven minutes, and
| fed them Ill insects and spiders. A
pair of chipping sparrows, observed
fed insects to their young 200 times
day DR.. Fisher relates that from
| tho most of nair of ha-n a niis-i'e
collected 675 pellets. of which he
made n careful study. with the result
| of Identifying the remains of 1871
small mammals. of which ,ll9 were
common meadow mice. most de
structlve enemy to young fruit trees
and TO the farmers crops in general
Few people" continues Outing,
have an adequate Idea Of the amount
of food required by birds. 1t figures
into tremendous number of insects,
as Professor Attwater's figures show
He says that. allowing 25 insects a
day as an average diet for one bird
and estimating only one bird to every
acre In Texas, where his investiga-
tions were made. the calculation
would give 10000 900 birds in Texas
! alone. This would require 4,250 .000,'
! 600 insects for every days ration. 1t
has been estimated that 1t takes l2O,-
| 600 insects to fll bushel measure
therefore 1t would take 80 500 bushels
OF insects 10 feed the birds in Texas
alone for a single day. and Professor
Attwater says that this estimate is
very low" Save the pest killers
Save the birds.