Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1912-09-06

actual COUNT DTOOu OF three young
chipping sparrows were fed a hun
dred and eighty-seven times in one
day by their parents. Birds often
raise two or three broods during the
nesting season, so the number of in
yeCts and small animals destroyed
IS enormous. A family Of four song
sparrows seven days old were fed IT
grasshoppers and two spiders in 81
minutes. A bobolink fed two fledg-
linz. nine grasshoppers in 20 min
tas. One bob-white that was killed
had over 100 potato bugs in its craw
another had eaten two spoonfuls of
chinch bugs.
Mr. Charles W. Nash gives the fol-
lowing experience concerning the ap-
petite of young robin: I'm May,
1889, l noticed a pair of robins dig
| ging out cutworms in my garden,
which was infested with them, and
saw they were carrying them to their
nest in tree close by. On the DIST
of that month / found one of the
young on the ground, it having fallen
out of the nest, and in order to see
daily | took it to my house and raised
it by hand. Up to the 9Th of June
it had eaten from so to 70 cutworms
and earthworm each day.
con the 9Th day of June l weighed
the bird; its weight was exactly three
ounces; and then l tried to find how
much it would eat, it being now quite
able to feed itself With the assist
ance of my children I gathered a
large number of cutworms and gave
them to the robin, after weighing
them. In the course of that day it
ate just five and one-half ounces of
cutworms. These grubs averaged 80
to the ounce, so the young robin ate
165 cutworms in one day. Had it
been at liberty it probably would
have eaten some insects of other spe-
cies and fewer cutworms, but this
shows about what each young robin
requires for its maintenance when
growing; the adult birds require
much less of course. The average
number of young raised by a robin
is four, and there are usually two
broods in a season. A very simple
calculation will give a good idea of
the number of insects destroyed
while the young are in the nest"
In the past farmers have been mis-
guided in their actions by not know
ing the economic relations that our
common birds bear to agriculture.
as more harmful than beneficial to
the agriculturist. For example, on
June %, 1885, the legislature of
Pennsylvania passed a bill known as
| the Scalp Act This was for the pur-
pose of benefiting the farmer by kill
ing hawks, owls and other creatures
that were preying upon his chickens.
AS soon as these birds began to be
killed off, the farmer discovered that
mice and other small animals were
making heavy inroads upon his crops.
In year and half the sum of $780,
600 was paid out in bounties to
kill these or eatures which acted as
extra hands about the farm and did
work that no one else could do. A
careful estimate showed that the
farmer saved $1875 in poultry which
might have been destroyed, but on
the other hand there was a clear loss
of $3,S75,130 in bounties and crop
losses. In other words, the state
spent $2,105 for every dollar saved.
Among many farmers there is
prejudice against all hawks. They
have seen a hawk swoop down and
carry off chicken, and the conclu-
sion is that all hawks steal chickens
and do nothing but fly about and
wait for the chance. If farmer has
seen one of his chickens go sailing
off in the clutches of a hawk, it is
mighty hard to persuade him that
hawk has attributes other than
those of professional thief 1t is
not easy to get acquainted with
hawks, so under the circumstances
he is not entirely to blame. How
ever, If one man steals it is poor
logic to reason that all men steal.
So with hawks. Many hawks and
owls live almost entirely on moles,
squirrels, gophers, mice, grasshop-
pers, beetles and the like, and are the
most useful birds we have. Many
hawks and owls have been shot about
farms, when as a matter of dollars
and cents they are worth more to
the farmer in month than the
chickens he has had stolen in five
years time. A farmer must not lose
sight Of the ordinary utility of bird.