The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-03-08
BOIL WEEVIL KILLER
Mocking Bird viii Eat That
Insect 1t Is Said.
POINT WILL BE STUDIED
Protection TO the Bird Will Be
Suggested.

Washington, March THE latest con-
tribution to the literature of the boil
weevil is laymans observation that the
| mocking-bird will eat it. 1t is a strained
| construction in the number OF hooking
birds the Texas pest would never have
| gained a foothoId or that with more
stringent laws for protecting this species
! the great problem of the southwest is
| solved. Nevertheless, the part which birds
may play in the eradication of the Wee
vii is one of the phases of the subject still
/ to be studied in detail. The bureau of
! entomology had collector in the field for
| some time, and now has in this labor
atory the stomachs of a cOnsidera bic num-
! Der of Texas birds, but their contents
| have not yet been examined with view
! TO finding out 10 what extent they will
eat the weevil. 1t is also suggested that
the biological survey should send one of
its men to study this matter. At this
| season a human collector finds it almost
impossible to discover the weevil at all,
as they are ridden in brush or under
weeds, and if the birds are ating them in
quantity it is merely a new line of testi-
mony as 10 the peculiar sharpness of
their senses
r. E. L. BeaI, the economic ornitholo-
gist Of the biological survey, thinks that,
while it may be true that the hooking
bird will eat weevils, the ground feeders,
such grackles and pipeloes would prob
ably accomplish much more in that direc-
ton. There is no question that birds VIII
eat insects very nearly related 10 the boil
weevil. for the records of the survey re-
Gently looked over show that weevils of
one kind or another have ben founed in
large numbers in the stOmachs of great
variety of insect-eating birds
Certain insects may be said to occupy
in the birds dietary somewhat the same
position as olives and Camembert cheese
in the human menu. That is to say, an
insect introduced from abroad-as has
been the case with most of our great in
sect pests since the Hessian fly came
over in the fodder which the British mer
cenaries brought for their horses in the
Revolutionary not be popular at first
with the native birds. AS something new
and unfamiliar. they distrust it. Some
day, however. very hungry bird, like
a very hungry man, will swallow a NOR
sci about which he is not altogether GER
tain. Something like the infallible test,
IF you live it's a great mushroom. if
you die it's toadstooI,' has gone through
many an avian mind. If the food is all
right and is plentiful. it will become an
everyday article in time. So far as the |
boil weevil problem may be solved by |
birds at all. the process is likely to be |
along these lines whatever species may |
take the lead.
The relations of the Colorado beetle and |
the rose-breasted grosbeak furnish the
most celebrated case in point When the
striped 'potato-bug" started on its prog
ress eastward. 1t met with but little re-
sistance until it reached the state of Iowa.
Here. so the story is told. a farmer no.
tioed that. after amounting his potato
vines with Paris green at night, a num-
Der of rose-breasted grosbeaks lay dead
on the ground in the morning. Knowing
that they did rot eat the potatoes them
selves. he stopped making the application
and watched the birds. only to find that
they were boiling the Objectionable insects
with avidity. When a pair of these birds
place their sons and daughters in "a row
On the top rail of a fence and set about
feeding them potato bugs as fast as they
IAN swallow, a good-sized patch is cleared
pretty quickly
The grosbeak was the pioneer. but as
he years have gone by scientists have
found the Colorado beetles remains
among the food of a larger and larger
number of other species. showing that :
,ther birds. too had conquered their dis .
rust of the new food, and relished it ]
The offer by the state of Texas of a
81. 900 reward for a remedy for the boil {
veevil has brought forth an uncounted !
lumber Of suggestions. Though the
ward is to be made if ever. by a jury of 6
PRACTICAL Texas agriculturists. suggestions 7
re sent from all over the world to the :
Agricultural Departments experts with c
he idea that they will recommend the [
ew treatment. and thus make it sim 4
Ie matter to secure the cash prize Al c
lost every conceivable scheme Of spray q
lg or cultivation has been suggested. q
everal ingenious soults have sent for [
luIae for connections in which the cot :
IN seed is 10 he soaked before planting. Z
nth the result that the plant when it a
rows up will be distasteful 10 the weevil Y
n similar plan. a poultry fancier might @
amt the eggs of his incubator with Tas y
7sco sauce so that the chickens when fl
1ey grow up and were hroiled would not d
eed 70 be seasoned. One inventor OF q
,medy was so confident of its efficacy h
rat when it failed to meet the approval y