The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-01-29
THE BIRDS AND TREES.
How Tree Life Depends Upon the Protection of the Insect
 Eating Birds.

Each woodpecker in the United States is worth twenty dollars in cash, when the value is estimated on the value of the good that this bird does to trees. Other birds are worth sums proportionate to the good that they do. The nuthatch, creeper and chick adee are worth from five to ten dol lars, varying with the locality and the condition of trees and crops. The downy woodpecker is the relentless enemy of the codling moth, an insect that damages our apple crops to an extent of twelve million dollars.
 In the war between the insectg and the trees, millions of dollars are be- ing spent each year by tree owners who know that insects have increas- ed so rapidly of late years that their trees must be protected. The To- cust and maple trees are preyed upon by the bag insects; elTns are sprayed in order to kill the elm beetles while borers are SlaughterIng the hickories. Now let us connect up the condf- tions with the facts. This invasion of insects is due entirely to the slaugh- ter of birds which subsist upon tree and crop destroying insects.
 Take the case of the coId:ng moth and curcul1o. These are among the most deadly of the destructive in sects and are difficult to fight by or
 
 1y designed apparatus. Eight and ne-quarter million dollars per year, it is estimated, is spent to fight these pests. Yet were the birds only left alone they would perform t1fs work.
 When a downy woodpecker is left free to act, it digs into the hiding places of the hidden larvae of the codling moth and extracts worms from young apples so skillfu11y that the fruit is not damaged. This bird has been observed closely over wide areas; records from New York, New Jersey, Texas and California show that it con fines it's efforts to a wide range and twenty larvae of the cod1ing moth have been taken from a, single stom- ach- Woodpeckers search for cod ling moth larvae so carefully that the few that escape owe their safety to accident rather than to negligence of the birds.
 The red-shafted flicker has been observed in California by hundreds ex- amining trunks and limbs of fruit trees and also frequenting sheds where fruit is stored. The damage they shut out by their industry is inca1cu- lable.
 There is an array of birds which de- stroy the larvae of the codlfng moth to a considerable extent. The wood peckers, fickers. hycatchers, jays, blackbirds, orioles, sparrows, war b1ers, buntings, creepers, chickadees, robins and bluebirds of various spe- cies are constantly reducing the in roads of the codling moth. In some places they destroy from sixty y-eight to eighty-f1ve per cent of the hiber- hating larvae.
 Now, is there any reason why tue farmers of the country should allow the Italians of the North and the ne groes of the South to destroy these T,i c a thousand to write his members of Congress to vote for the federal mil gratory bird bill, this great waste would be stopped and eight and one quarter millions be saved the fruit growers alone, to say nothing of the millions upon millions of dollars saw ed on other crops.
 The only way in which all these valuable migratory birds. can be saw ed to us, is through the strong arm of the National Government, and a federal law for the protection of ALL migratory birds! Protection of game birds alone will not answer. Too many other birds are being killed for food especially in the South.
 Senator McLean's bill is the best one of the three now before Congress. Call upon in person, or write to your senator and representative and ask him to vote for and work for that bill until it becomes a law.
 The present session of Congress is a short session, ending March 4. The people of the Nation should call upon all their senators and representatives to take up the Mclean bill as an emergency measure and push it through before March 4. If enough constituents demand this, it will be done.
 Now is the time to do something practical, and get a tangible result! Get busy with your congressman. A great effort will be required, but surely those who believe in the protection of growing crops and in the reduction of the high cost of living are equal to the emergency.
 FOXES OF QUALITY.