Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1912-09-06
How Birds Help Farmers
(Ry William L, Finley in Success

Nby WllAm l.. rinlSy III success
Magazins.)
The real wealth OF the country is
based upon the products of agricul.
ture and horticulture. The pros
perity of the nation depends upon a
prosperous farming class. Without
the help OF our wild birds, farming
would be impossible. No other farm
hands could accomplish the work en-
trusted to birds, The wild birds OF
orchard field and forest are nature 5
check upon the increase of insect
life. With the great handicap of
bird destruction In our present day
the loss from insect and rodent pests
In the United States the past year is
estimated to be eight hundred mil
lion dollars. This loss can be re
duced only when a public sentiment
is aroused for proper bird protection.
The practical farmer can not afford
to ignore the relations that wild
birds bear to his crops, They are
part of the natural resources of any
farm. The farmer will prosper in
proportion to the way he encourages
these extra hands nature has given
him.
Birds work more in conjunction
with man to help him than does any
other form of outdoor life They po-
lice the earth and air. and without
their services the farmer would be
helpless. Larks, wrens and thrushes
search the ground for grubs and in
sects. The food of the meadow lark
consists of rs per cent of injurious
insects and IL per cent of weed seed,
showing 1t to be bird of great eco
homie value. Sparrows, finches and
quail eat large amount of weed seed
Practically all the food of the tree
sparrow consists of seed. Examina-
tons by Professor F. e. l.. Beal, of
the biological survey of the depart
ment of agriculture, show that a
single tree sparrow will eat a quarter
or an ounce of weed seed daily. In
a state the size of Iowa tree spar
rows alone will consume more than
500 tons of weed seed annually.
This, with the work of other seed
eating birds. saves the farmer an i'm
mense amount of work. Nuthatches
and chickadees scan every part of the
trunks and lin BIS of trees for insect
eggs. In days time a chickadee
has been known to eat hundreds of
insect eggs and worms that are very
harmful to our trees and vegetables
Warblers and vireos hunt the leaves
and buds for moths and millers. Fly
catchers, swallows and night hawks
are busy day and night catching flies
that bother man and beast. Hawks
and owls are working silently in day
light and darkness to catch moles.
mice, gophers and squirrels.
The valuable service which birds
render about the farm is shown most
striklngly In places where insects and
rodents have become so numerous as
to destroy crops Birds collect in
places where food is abundant. and
by giving their whole time to hunt
Ing and eating these pests, they be-
come the most valuable assistants
the farmers can have. To illustrate.
few years ago large apple or
chard in central Illinois was attacked
by canker worms. Professor S. A.
Forbes spent two seasons In this To-
cality, studying bird life. He ex-
amined the stom achs of SO different
species of birds and found that 70
per cent of these were eating canker
worms Taken as a whole, 35 per
cent of the food of all the birds of
the locality consisted of these worms.
Out OF flock of S5 cedar waxwings.
seven were killed and examined.
With the exception of a few small
beetles, these birds were living en-
urely on canker worms. By actual
count he found 10 to 101 worms in
the stomachs of each of these birds.
II we assume that each waxwing ate
100 worms day, which is a very
low estimate, the flock of 80 was de-
stroying 5000 a day, or during the
month when caterpillars were out.
flock OF 80 waxwings would eat
10000 worms.
A number of years ago blackbirds
were exceedingly abundant through
Eastern Nebraska. They were So
plentiful that the farmers believed
they were damaging crops. so they
began poisoning the birds. A single
grain OF corn soaked In strychnine
was enough to kill blackbird. In
the years that followed, great mum
bers OF these and other birds were
destroyed during the spring and fall
90 aea ~