Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1906-12-06
Department of Agriculture
has Examined $4,000
StomaChs to get at
the Facts.

plant lie, ciHdfkdOlc WolH 10
being carried forward by Professor
F. E. L. Beal, who is in charge OF
the Division of Economic Ornithol-
ogy of the Biological Survey, United
States Department Of Agriculture
at Washington, D. c. Professor
Bcal has alone examined over
thirty thousand bird stomachs, the
greatest work OF the kind ever ac-
complishcd by single man, while
his assistants have examined an
equal number, making over sixty
thousand in all. A seemingly end
les task it is, investigating with
microscope each minute particle in
each of these thousands of stomachs,
vet all this has been accomplished
in a period of seventeen years.
When one considers that to do this
intelligcntly and successfully re-
quires thorough knowledge Of the
anatomy of bugs and insects, and a
familiarity with characteristics OF
the seeds of both domestic and wild
plants, the labor assumes formid-
able proportions to the uninitiated.
To increase their knowledge, work.
crs in this line must spend much
time in woods, gardens, and fields,
studying hundreds of species OF
insects, worms, and bugs. The
result of these Investigations,
which are invaluable to science,
and of great practical importance to
the American farmer, have led to
a movement that can intelligently
favor the increase of such bird spc-
cies as are best adapted to preserve
the proper balance of nature, and
reduce the number Of those that
prey to greatly on the products of
orchard and field. Ornithologists
from all parts Of the country, and
in many instances special field
agents who have been engaged for
the purpose, forward great numbers
OF bird stomachs to. the department,
and thus aid in the practical and
scientific research.
Il is difficult. almost impossible,
to determine what a bird eats by
his actions, as he frequently goes
through all the motions of eating
hearty meal without taking a thing.
The ''proof of the pudding is
found in the birds stomach. If he
is ioadcd with garden seeds, culti-
waited fruits, or beneficial insects
fpsrasites on other insects), he is
rcirgatcd to the black list; but If
the examination reveals a goodly
number OF bugs, worms, and insects
that are injurious to plant lite, he
is hoistcd high Upon the pedestal
of usefulness, and woe betidc the
human who does him bodily injury,
or tries to bcsmirch his character.
The contents of birds stomach
consist of pulvcrized, soggy mass,
and il is necessary to separate and
study each minute particle in order
to determine to what species OF
fruit or insect it belongs. Cater
pillars are sometimes recognized by
their skins, always by their jaws,
and the tiny chitinous plates that
surround the breathing holes. The
presence of ants and wasps is dis
covered by the hard thorax, spiders
by their madibles, and sometimes
by their eyes, which sparkle in the
stomach mass like rubies. Angle
worms have hard, indigestible
spicules, which project from their
sides. Beetles have fierce bony
Jaws, grassoppers hard mandibles
and tiny leg-armor plates, and
so on through the entire insect
world The greatest difficulty is
experienced in determining the
species of fruit found in the stom-
achs. Usually it is crushed, and
If 1T contains no seed the only meth
cd OF examination available for the
investigators is to place particles
of skin under microscope and dis
cover the texture. Grain can be
recognized by the shape of the
starch granulcs when other methods
fail.
s-Most astonishing things have
been found in the stomachs oil
birds, everything bat diamonds, .
says Professor Besi. "A bird
stomach which had been kept in
alcohol for two years, waiting it,
turn to be examined, contained
poison oak berries, which are tht
favorite food of many birds. The
man who examined this stomach
was badly poisoned. Vicious anc
deadly poison spiders constitute |
favorite bird food. The mere toucf
of blister beetle would scorch tn,
flesh of human, yet in the stom
ach of one king bird, fourteen o