Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-05-05
SERMON ON THE BIRDS
REV. BENNETT breaches SPEC
IAL DISCOURSE SUNDAY.
Feathered Neighbors Teach Us Nu-
merous Lessons One Being
Habit of Industry.

Ing lOE HIS lHtHlt, DiiuS oui DchS
factors and Schoolmasters, the pur
pose being bird protection. In dis
cussing the subject Mr. Bennett helt
that the birds teach us many valu
able lessons, and hence they are oul
schoolmasters. The sermon follows:
Behold the birds of the heavenn
Our feathered neighbors are very
close kin to ourselves. They are
creatures of the same Creator, and
recipients of the thoughtful care OF
the same Heavenly Father as our
selves-''your Heavenly Father feed
eth them. "
The birds are our schoolmasters
They teach us many valuable lessons
They do not SOW, nor reap nor gather
harvests into barns and granaries. as
we do, nevertheless they teach lis the
habit of industry, for every bird labors
from sunrise till sunset in the search
for food provided by divine provi-
dence. The robin which draws the
earthworm from the sod, and the
sparrow which hunts for seeds among
the weeds by the roadside surely are
examples of industry to all the - lords
of creation.
The birds use the knowledge and
power they possess and take care OF
themselves, and perform a very not
able and worthy work in the world,
while a good many men waste their
knowledge and power, never return to
society any worthy service for what
they get out of it, and are merely
parasites upon society living off the
toll Of other people.
The birds are our benefactors. They
render valuable service. Society de-
pends upon agriculture for its daily
food supply. But agriculture has its
problems. One of the chief problems
in agriculture is the destruction of the
weeds which infest all cultivated
lands. Among the most active and
efficient checks upon the oyerwhelm-
ing crop of weeds which annually
menaces the farmer are the birds
which eat the seeds of the weeds.
The birds attack these enemies of
the farmer at a vital period in weed
life, the seed time. One seed may
produce a weed which will yield fifty
thousand seeds. So the work of the
birds becomes easily apparent.
Fifty species of our native birds
live chiefly upon the harvest of weed
seeds. 1t is not uncommon for the
crow blackbird to eat fifty seeds of
the smartweed, or for field sparrow
to eat one hundred seeds of crabgrass,
or for tree sparrow to devour seven
hundred seeds of pigeongrass at a
single meal-while a snowflake has
been known to eat a thousand seeds
of pigweed at a single meal. Our
native birds thus attack more than
sixty species of noxious weeds. In
vestigation has shown that the birds
eat an average of quarter of an
ounce of weed seed daily; and upon
this basis, and with fair estimate
of the number Of birds to the square
mile, it is calculated that in Iowa
alone the treesparrows annually de-
stroy S75 tons of weed seed
When the boys fare forth to shoot
birds let them remember they are
making war on their best friends.
Thirteen quail examined had eaten
1892 weed seeds. Several mourning
doves We're examined. One had de-
voured 900 seeds of the yellow wood
sorrel, another 6,400 foxtail grass
seeds, and another had eaten 5000
seeds of several kinds of weeds. The
CHEEKY "Bob-white" of the quail, and
the soft cooling of the dove ought to
turn the heart of the hunter from
slaughter to praise and protection of
these little toilers.
Another serious problem in agrieul-
ture is the destruction of the horde
of insects which prey upon orchard,
forest, and field. But in solving this
problem the birds again come to the
assistance of society. Many species
of birds live upon the ground Their
food consists largely of insects found
ON the furrowed field, or in the grass.
or among the leaves. Other species. |
like the swallows and tlycatchers.
spend their lives on the wing or
watching from some isolated twig, |.
and SO destroy the insects which
swarm in the air. And other species |.
still, like the warblerS and woodpeck-
ers, devow other kinds of insect |
pests which inhabit the trees. So the
bird hosts advance in three grand di-
visions upon the armies of insect |
pests. Fifty-one species of our native
birds feed chiefly upon hairy cater
pillars. Thirty-eight species feed
upon plant lice. \ scarlet tanager
was observed to eat gypsy moths at
the rate of thirty-five per minute for
eighteen minutes. \ pair of warb-
lerS picked up 3.560 plant lice in forty
minutes. \ red-winged blackbird .
was examined which had eaten twen-
ty-eight cutwormS at single meal.
yet the farmers drive the black birds
from their cornfieldS,
Insect life lays an enormous tribute
upon our country. The Hessiau fly
recently caused a loss of S3.OOO.0O0 in
one year in the state of New York
alone. The total annual loss in tim
ber. fruit, and crops has been esti-
~ M