The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-08-23

birds.
Year by year with one hand they
have paid out millions of dollars for
insect destroyers, while with the other
hand they have waged wanton and
cruel warfare upon the birds, often in
sport, but more often in the ignorant
belief that the featheerd tribes were
thieves and varlets, whereas they were
and have always been the true allies
and co-workers of the agriculturist.
Indeed, experts say that were there
no birds farming could not be carried
on at all, and that if the ranks of
the bird folk had not been so fright
fully thinned by the destroyer many
thousands of dollars less would now
have to come out Of the farmers pock-
cts for insect poison.
According to these authorities, one
tenth of all the products of the field is
now destroyed by insects, Of which
there are said to be more than 100000
varieties in the United States, most Of
them enemies to the farmer. 1t is
estimated by entomolOgists that in
sects wreak S2OO,OO0,00O worth of
havoc annually TO the crops of this
country. When it is understood that
one bird will destroy yearly 2100 in
sects, no further argument is needed TO
make the farmer respect and cherish
an ally so valuable and useful.
Hitherto most tillers of the soil only
saw one phase of the bird question.
They saw the birds eating a few cher
ries in the orchard or picking up few
grains of corn or wheat, and that was
enough. They were all set down as
thieves and parasites. But now the
farmer is coming TO see that the deni-
zens of the air derive by far the largest
portion of their food from insects,
beetles. bugs and the seeds of weeds.
1t is largely due TO the Audubon So
cieties scattered throughout the States
that the farmers eyes are at last being
opened to the true state of affairs. Ac-
cording TO William butcher, chairman
of the National Association of Audu-
bon Societies for Protection of Birds,
every bird in this country has its dis
tinctive and special work to do.
"First of ALL" he says, "there are
birds, like the night hawks and whip
poOrwlls, that CLEAN insects in the
air at dawn and sundown, and swal-
lows and hycatchers that CLEAN in the
air during the daylight hours. Then
we have the sparrowS and doves that
help the farmer by eating weed seeds;
and, furthermore, nature has provided
large numbers of birds of different
kinds that clean the leaves of trees
from all sorts of insects. These are
represented by the wood warblers and
orioles and chickadees. Then the
woOdpeckers and creepers and TO some
extent the chickadees also watch over
and care for the trunks and limbs of
trees, cleaning out from the cracks and
interstices in the bark all the eggs of
insects that are in many cases too min
ute for the human eye to see.
Prof. Forbush, of the Massachusetts
Department of Agriculture, has stated
publicly that the value of a chickadee
TO an apple orchard is beyond computa-
ton, and yet the foreign laborers in
this country will kill, without a second
thought, a chickadee or any other bird
whose value TO agriculture is simply
inestimable. No part of the foreign
population is more relentless toward
the birds than the Italian and Polish
laborers. In Italy there are no bird
laws, and there Is perfect liberty to
stay anything and everything in the
feathered line. The Italian laborers
here, who are largely laborers, having
known no bird laws in their own coun-
try, are slow to recognize any here.
They kill the birds for food. and any
thing with feathers on it is their prey.
They give more actual trouble to the
Audubon Society than all the rest put
together, for native Americans seldom
kill small birds, although the boys
sometimes go bird nesting.
"To return to the economic value of
birds, Clifford Pinchot, chief forester
of the United States, in one of his
late reports, states that boring beetles
and other notwithstanding insects de-
stroy forests to the value of S100,000,-
600 year, and a very conservative
estimate of the loss to general agri-
culture through insect ravages is
S200.000000 more yearly.
"The Audubon societies are incor-
porated and fully organized bodies who
are working from two different stand
points. Some of them take up the aes-
thetic side of the question and protect
the birds because of their beauty of
plumage and song. But by far the
greater number Of the Audubon people
are working from a purely economic
standpoint, trying to preserve the birds
of the country because these keep in
check the insect and rodent pests that
initiate TO the extent of many mil.
lions yearly against the labors of farm
er and forester.
'As an illustration of the value OF
land birds, few interesting facts are
| suggestive. The night hawk. which
| catches insects on the wing. has an
| enormous stomach. GrasshoDpers are
| an important article OF its diet. The
/ stomach Of one night hawk WAS found
| to contain remains of sixty grasshop
pers, while another's stomach con
| tanned thirty-eight mostly entire. Ye'