St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-05-09
SOUTHERN
AGRICULTURE
BIRDS AND BOIL wEEvlL.


mics.
U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Biological Survey-Bulletin 90: In
view, Of the. rapid spread of the cotton
boil weevil In the Southern States and
the enormous damage to the cotton
crop through its ravages, study of
the relations of our native birds to
the pest is of increasing Importance
Investigation of the problem during
several seasons has shown that while
| birds can not be depended upon to
| stay its progress, much less to exter-
inmate it, yet the service they render
In controlling it Is of great import
ance. 1t has been discovered that
| several species of birds eat great num-
| bers of the pest and among the wee
| vil-eating kinds are few whose num-
bers it is believed can be greatly aug
nented through careful protection
| and by providing them with safe nest
ing places.
The relation of birds to the boil
weeyil has been studied by the Bio
logical Survey during portions of four
seasons, and by the Bureau of Ento-
mology during portions Of two sea-
| sons. Seventeen species Of birds were
examined during the seasons of 1908
and 1904 by the Bureau of Entomolo-
gy, with the result that II species
were found to feed on the weeVil. In
| November and December, 1904, Yer
non Bailey of the Biological Survey
took UP the study Of the problem, and,
as result of the examination Of 354
stomachs collected by him, 9 addition
al species of birds were added to the
list of boil weevil destroyers. The
| work was carried on in the summer
and fall of 1905 by the present writer,
62 species of birds being collected
and examined and 8 additional spe-
cies found to feed on the weevil. The
| investigation was continued, also by
the writer, in August and September,
| 1906, and from February IL to May
| 8, 1907. Fifteen species were added
to the list of weevil-eating birds by
the Investigations in the past two
seasons, details Of which will be given
later.
AS a result of investigations car
ried on Internationally during five sea-
/ sons, 43 species of our native birds
have been found to feed on the weeVil.
as follows: Upland plover, kildees,
quail, nighthawk, scissor-tailed fly
catcher, kingbird, crested flycatcher,
Phoebe, older f1ycatcher, olove-sided
| fycatcher, least fiycatcher, cewbird,
red-winged blackbird, meadow lark,
Western meadow lark, orchard oriole,
Baltimore oriole, bullock oriole, brew
er blackbird, bronzed grackle, great
tailed grackle, Savanna sparrow, lark
sparrow, white-throated sparrow, field
sparrow, wowhee, cardinal, pyrrhu-
loxia, painted bunting, dickcissel, pur-
| pie martin, cliff swallow, bank swal-
low, barn swallow, uninterrupted
shrike, yellow warbler, yellow-breast-
ed chat, American pipit, mockingbird,
brown thrasher, Carolina wren, tufted
titmouse, black-crested titmouse.
Twenty-three of the foregoing spe-
cies feed ON the weevil principally in
| summer and twenty species principal
| 1y in winter. The greatest destruction
of weevile in summer is wrought by
swallows and orioles; in winter, by
blackbirds and meadow larks. It Is
not to be supposed that the foregoing
list includes all the birds which feed
upon the boil weevil. Further investi-
| cation will doubtless add a number
of species to the list and will show
that birds which ordinarily eat but
few weevile will, under certain condi-
TONS destroy good many. The
funds at the command of the Biologi-
cal Survey for this investigation have
been very limited, but it is hoped that
means will be forthcoming not only
for continuing the work, but for wild.
ening its scope SO as to include the
regions recently invaded by the boil
weevil-Arthur II. Howell, Assistant
Biologist; Biological Survey.