The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1908-08-27

is seldom, however, that a klngDlru Is
alone in such a contest for usually
when a hawk comes near a grove while
foraging, he is set upon by a number
of bold warriors and quickly driven
away.
Thus the kingbirds not only defend
other feathered friends of the farmer,
but protect his poultry yard from the
depredations OF hawks as no others
can. While most hawks are beneficial
as d~estroyers of rodents, few fail to
secure a chicken when the opportunity
appears. If each farmer had the time
and skill to shoot every hawk that
threatened his poultry, those profitable
creatures would be we'll protected, but
there would be a corresponding in
crease in the destructive rodents, the
hawks would likewise destroy. The
kingbirds but drive away the hawk,
unframed except for a loss OF a few
feathers, perhaps, and he returns to
the fields and meadows, a meeker and
wiser bird, to- feed upon mice, gophers
and other rodents which are more
easily captured than the birds which
frequent the open prairie.
Kingbirds also have a great anti.
pathy for owls, crows and jays. l
have observed them attack gulls, bit.
terms and other innocent birds whose
great size make them seem formidable
foes. AS the latter are able to care
for themselves by taking flight, we can
easily forgive the kingbirds a few er-
rors in judgment.
1t would seem that the virtues al
ready mentioned would secure for the
kingbirds the love and protection OF
every farmer, but there are other good
works to their credit. In their food
habits kingbirds r i~nsetivorous and
being true flycatchers, most Of their
prey consists of flies, beetles, moths
and butterflies, whose careers are thus
checked ere they have completed the
deposition of their countless eggs.
From some CONSPICUOUS perch a
watchful kingbird suddenly swoops for
ward, and after a few graceful turns,
if the first attempt be unsuccessful,
captures a moth newly escaped from
her cacoon, and thereby prevents the
harm which would cost a larva eating
bird hours of toll to undo. So it is
in his killing of beetles. Their lives
are destructive to plant life but usually
short. Some beetles are beneficial to
agriculture because they destroy other
insects, and we might not consider
beetles very harmful on the whole,
were it not for the we'll known fact
that during their brief lives they de.
post numberless eggs which hatch into
grubs. The grub works out its evil
life, which sometimes extends over a
period of several years, quietly and
usually unnoticed by all ave the birds
whom nature intended should hold
their progress in check. The butter
fly, that fairy creature as beautiful and
innocent as the flowers from which it
draws it's substance, is harmless in
itself, and even beneficial since it fer.
tilizes blossoms, but it's offspring, the
caterpillar, from the time they en-
erge from the eggs until they encase
themselves in silken webs, cost the
agriculturist dearly, unless the birds
intervene.
Kingbirds do not always capture
winged insects but often gather them
from the leaves and even descend to
the ground for more humble prey.
Thus the kingbird is enabled to secure
a subsistence during times Of storm
and cold when insects are rarely seen
on the wing. 1t may be that extremity
taught the ardent f1ycatcher such a
useful trait.
A few years ago the trees in the
vicinity of my home were greatly in.
tested with large black and ugly cater
pillars. One day l discovered a large
group of the pest on an overhanging
limb near the house. No one could
reach them or climb to their position.
The only a of destruction sug.
gested was a mas of flamable mater
ial fastened to the end of a long pole
and held beneath the caterpillars. A
high wind made such proceedings dan
gerous to our house and while we
awaited favorable conditions, the In.
sects continued to strip the limb and
scatter over the tree. Fortunately a
family of kingbirds Matched in a near
by tree and the parent found the black
easily obtained proper
food for their young. Busily they for.
aged among the branches Of the in.
tested tree until it was freed of cater.
and the tiny mites of birdlife
had developed into sturdy fiedglings.
1t would seem that a country like
ours, where the tax levied by the in.
sects exceeds the expenditure of the
national government, king birds would
be valued and protected by every in
telligent person. War has been de-
clared, men have slain one another,
countries laid to waste and homes
made desolate, because of a lesser tax
than insects impose upon the United
States, yet we kill the birds. Orni.
biologists and bird lovers have studied
the habits Of u feathered b%euefactors
oil n1fmafoc brctcho,t al coo.~~-