Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-01-26
HOW WINTER BIRDS PRO.
TECT THE ORCHARDS.

! The intelligent agriculturaist no longer
allows prejudice and superstition to in
terfcrc with his interests; he desires in
all cases 70 act from knowledge and rea-
son, based either on his personal obser.
walton or on the experience Of some one
whose authority he knows to be reliable
! There was q time. and not SO very long
ago. either, when many believed that an
inoffcnslve lady. whom from some Tack
Of reason they had decided to term a
witch" could cause their cattle to be-
come diseased and die by merely looking
at them. This superstition passed away.
and its place was taken by others. among
them the idea that many of the birds
particularly the birds OF prey were the
enemies oi the agricuturis, This super
stition was handed down from father to
son. and even today there are farmers
who believe they are acting Tor their own
interest by shooting every hawk and
owl they scn Others. still more behind
h" times. shoot robins and other song
birds. because they take a few berries or
grapes Tho intelligent farmer. however
no longer goes by guess. work. and re-
fuses TO act because "thcy SAY" that such
and such a thing is so. II the birds
/ IL
ACC TO his business no wants to know H.
ana he takes the trouble to find out. ~
they are doing his farm more good than
harm. he wants to know that. and when
h" does know it, he is Just as anxious 70
protect them az his grandfather may
have been to destroy them
Tho easiest way for the farmer or for
amy ono else FOR that natter to find ont
in 1t general way. which OF the birds are
| beneficial and which arc harmful TO us
is to write 20 tho secretary Of agricul-
t,rc for free pamphlets on tha subject
These publications contain tho results OF
careful eXp"t imcnts made by the govern
,rent at grea, expense and without preju-
dice for or against the birds directly for
! the berc.t Of tho farmer and Indirectly
| Tor the benefit oi the cnti,r country. The
best way Tor h:n' to get the same in for.
nation is 10 so out on his farm and into
| tho country surrounding II. and watch
tho birds ut their daily work; not Just
when they happen to be in the cherry
tree or tho poultry yard. but al through
| TIL" year. lie may not have time to oo
this during warm weather. but even III
winter he can got some slight idea of tho
value of the wild birds by carefully
| watching those which are on his prem
Uses at this season. Let him go into his
, orchnrde ana soc for himself what some
Of the birds are doing for his fruit trees.
Proba bly, on of tho first he will SOC will
be Il woodpecker Of some kind. and in
that case. he IS sure to sec a very useful
bird. OF tho 40 odd sitres and sub
! species Of woodpccke,s in this country
only ono is sometimes destructive to the
, trees. This IS the ycllowbclllod sap
sucker. but he docs not usually win
tor north of Virginia it is not likely that
he will he seen here. Ten to one it will
he Il downy or n hairy wOodpc ckcr. These
two arc much alike in general appear
| ancc. except that the latter is consider
| ably larger that the former. In either
case he will he found very busy search
| ing for and devouring insects eggs.
larvae and adult insects of one kind or
another which have their home on. IN or
bt low the bark of tho tree. Som. OF
those insects arc pests of the worst sort.
and if they wore not gathered up by the
birds in the winter the trees would be
alive with them i'll the spring. and III
many cases they would destroy not only
he fruit hut in some cases even the
trees themselves. OF coiirs" these BIRDS
carry on their warfare all through thu
rest of the year. eating ants. caicrpiliars
and crawlers of many kinds by thou
,,a &c.. .,, . ,.;.,s, ,, ,..;.,,
other matters. will not hc so likely to sec
them At it
| Perhaps thu next bird to appear may
be a nu'hatch bird much smaller even
than the downv woodpecker aud quite
different IN appearance and manners. Ii
may he IA white breasted or a red-brcast-
l.I. ri, ~ in oft hp u
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