The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-05-03

BIRDS ARE INDISPENSABLE
Their Importance Described in Paper
by Or. L. n. Ross.

by DR.. l. n. Ross.
If the birds of the air we're exter-
minated the earth would no longer be
inhabitable by human beings was one
of the conclusions drawn by DR.. l.. II,
Ross in paper which he read before
the mems club OF st. Peters church
Monday evening. And the writer not
only made the statement but he cited
statistics and quoted from the obser-
vations of scientists to prove his con-
clusions.
1t is only within recent years that
the people OF civilized countries have
begun to realize the part played by the
feathered inhabitants of the globe in
the great scheme of nature, a scheme
that has been seriously interferred
with to the detriment of mankind.
In order that the lesson that the doc
tor has learned through years of obser-
vation and study may be taken to
others who do not possess his personal
interest in the subject but whose inter
ests in many instances are far more
deeply involved in the subject of bird
protection, the paper is here repro
duced. wild birds are benefit to
the human race in many ways. If
their economic value alone were
known to the people generally there
would be an unresisting demand for
their most careful protection and pre-
servation. II the good that birds do
in destroying noxious weed-seed and
injurious insects and mammals were
left undone the earth would soon be
uninhabitable fer man.
While it has been known in gener-
al way from time immemorial that the
birds live upon insects and small
mammals, only in recent years has
there been a systematic and scientific
study of the foods Of the various birds.
This study has been so thoroughly
done that now it is possible to tell with
greater accuracy what 10 robins Will
eat and feed to their young on the first
day OF next May than what 10 mothers
will eat and feed to their babies on the
Same date.
Birds do not change their diet readi-
| ly. 1t is only when starvation stares
them in the face that they will leave
their normal food and partake OF other.
| II you should scatter on your lawn a
mixture of seeds, grubs and chopped
suet. the sparrows would pick out the
| seeds, the robins the grubs, and the
! nuthatches the suet, while the warb-
lers would pass it all by. If you did
this day after day there would be no
| change in the diet of the different
species. No matter how juicy the
, grubs were the sparrows would pass
| them by and take the seeds every
time. II you failed to put out the
seeds the sparrows would soon cease
to come.
Scientists have used two methods to
| find out these facts concerning the
food of birds. 1st BY close observa.
| tion of the birds at their feeding-this
is rather tedious way and somewhat
uncertain for birds as you know are
shy and will not stand around TO be OBJ.
served. Many mistakes were made and
greater reliance has been placed on
the second method namely,-that OF
| examining the contents of the birds
| stomachs. This method as you can
see, is very accurate. for Ii the stom
achs of 10 birds of one species contain
the same variety Of food, we can be
suie almost to o certainty what food
that species lives upon. These obser
vations must be made throughout the
whole year for some birds change the
character of their diet with the differ
ent seasons. TO illustrate this furth
er, viii give the results OF such study
in connection with number of oul
common birds.
| The Meadow Lark, a bird that FIRE
quents our meadows, feeds almost
| wholly upon insects. It's food is divid
| ed as follows rs per cent insects, II
| per cent weed seed and 10 per cen
| grain, The, grain, Is almost entirely
| taken during December, January, Feb
ruary, March and April and is waste
| gathered from stubble fields The in
| sects are grass hoppers, crickets, wire
worms, eut-worms, army,worms, anC
| others. oyer so grasshoppers have
| been found in single stomach 1t i
| very plain, to bo seen from these obser
vations how beneficial this bird is t
the farmers. That the bird does some