The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-05-04


so strong is the action Of their stom-
achs that an unbroken ragweed seed
is rarely found. From 10 to 20 per
cent. of1their food is insects, and
made up of pests. They are an ex-
cellent army for checking locusts, but
do not take kindly to hairy caterpil-
lars and tobacco worms.
DIR. F. E. L. Beal, assistant orni-
thologist of the Biological Survey,
figuring on a most conservative basis,
estimates that the tree sparrows in
Iowa destroy 1850, 900 tons of weed
seed year. This only allows fourth
of an ounce of seed daily to each spar
row. Estimating from this basis on
a general field cropof Sc, 900, ,ooo, 900,
the sparrows can be counted on saw
ing the nation SEC, 900 900 year.
CROWS AND BLACKBIRDS.
The little country boy planting corn
has way of dropping several grains
in each hill, singing as he does it
Zone for the blackbird, one for the
crow two for the cut-worms, and one
to grow" This was considered of
sufficient weight to be a warrant for
the arrest of the crow and the black
bird. To the world in general the
crow has ever been known as a thief
and coward. He was accused of pull
ing up corn, of eating fruit and eggs,
and Of playing marauder on the homes
Of other birds. All these were prov
ed against him, but evidence was also
introduced to show that he ate cut
worms who destroyed more corn than
he did, that he made many meals off
grass-hoppers alone, and that wild
fruits were as good as tame fruits in
his opinion. So the spirit of justice
declares the crow a more helpful than
ful fellow. The red winged
blackbird, too, came out with fairly
good record, though he had been
found guilty of relocating in some
sections. His brother, the bobolink,
or rice bird, did not get off so easily,
for that sweet voiced rogue was caught
red-handed with a quantity of rice
hidden in his person, and it was prov
ed that the rice-growers lose 81, ,ooo,-
600 year on his account.
The buzzard and the seagull have
always enjoyed certain immunity
from death at the. hands of the men
and boys of the country. The amount
of scavanger duty they do is enor-
nous and there is tatic understand
ing the country over that they should
be unmolested. Georgia has earned
for herself the rather inelegant name
of the "Buzzard State, because of
law on her statute books protecting
buzzards. On the seacoast, and espe-
cially in the Golden Gate of Califor-
MIA, the gulls are an invaluable aid to
the health departments, removing as
they do all refuse and all dead fish.
EATING BOIL WEEvILS.
When the boil weevil crossed the
line from Mexico, and came up mt
Texas to feed on the cotton there, Il
United States Government immed
ately appealed to the bird-kingdor
for aid. 1t did not build altars to th'
birds, as the Syrians used to, nor hail
them as "lords of the air. as did the
Greeks, or foretell the fate of the
crops by the way in which they flew.
It simply offered them boll-weevils to
eat, and wondered how many they
| would like a day. The Carolina wren,
the tomtit, the titlark, the phoebe,
the Florida and Western meadow
larks, the red-wing blackbird, the sa-
wanna and white-throated sparrows,
the killdeer, the thrasher, and the
bob-white responded and attacked the
enemy with varying degrees of eff
cheney. The biological survey urges
every possible means of bird protec-
ton throughout the Southern cotton
states as a means of exterminating
the weevil.
FLY cATcHERS.
The cuckoo has been catalogued as
the champion exterminator of the
fuzzy caterpillar. The king bird is
a great fycatcher. The catbird is
accounted great cherry thief, but he
has to his credit the fact that he eats
900 worms for each cherry. Our
winged citizens eat enormously, feed
ing all during their working hours,
a robin being able to make away with
100 earth worms day, the chicka-
deer 1000 canker worms, while
grosbeak can easily consume quart
of bugs. The rose breasted grosbeak
makes speciality of killing the Colo
rado potato bug. The bob white,
the cowbird, the cardinal, the purple
| finch, the dove, the goldfnch, the
swallow, the flicker, the cedarbird
and the catbird-all have proved that
their helpfulness is far in excess of
their wasteft1l habits.
BUILD BOXES FOR THEM.
Soil culture is an eternal warfare
against weeds and insects, and when
birds are killed the farmer is left at
the mercy of his enemies. The best
investment any farmer or city dwell
Ter with a little land can make for
himself is to build bird boxes on his
premises. Swallows are very easily
persuaded to come if mud is put near
| for them to build with. Boxes for
martins should be on top of pole II
or IS feet high; boxes for wrens
should have an opening only an inch
| in diameter to keep out sparrows, and
they should be put in a place inacces-
sible to cats. Boxes for bluebirds
should be located with equal care,
and not have an opening more than
an inch and half in diameter. A
pair of bluebirds or wrens will destroy
untold thousands of insects in sea-
son, many of which they capture
around the edges of wells and along
the crevices in brick walks. The
little songsters are not only a delight,
but are really a great protection to
the health of the family. -BaltsnsOrt
l. H..