The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-06-03

structive pest, has been proved be a favorite
food for the killdeer.
The chimney swift almost always called the
chimney swallow, although it is not swallow
at ALL is sometimes looked upon as a nuisance
because in the summer time it is apt to make
more or less of a racket in the chimneys lead
ing from bedrooms in which tired folk are try
ing to sleep. This swift-winged bird never lights
upon the ground tree building. Its only
resting place is sooty bricks in the dark
interior of a chimney the inner wood of
some hollow tree in wilderness that knows no
chimney. All Of the swift's food is captured on
the wing. It eats thousands of mosquitoes, gnats
and other noxious winged insects 1t hunts from
daylight to dark, and all its hunting is in the
interest of man. The swift gathers it's nesting
material while on the wing. 1t has curious
habit, while in flight, of npping OF the tips Of
dead twigs, and quickly and neatly is the
thing done that the eye barely follow the
operation.
The bluebird with its violet of song" is loved
wherever it is known. Luckily bluebirds
prolific creatures, for about twenty years ago
severely cold winter made such inroads the
tribe that it feared the birds might never
come back into their own. They came back, and
there many and they
tnuing a warfare against mans enemies with
pacifcist in the land to interpose objection.
The bIuebird is given third place in the list Of
the ten most benefcent birds. Science is cruel
in order to be kind. Nearly nine hundred blue
birds met death that the scientists might
prove that they useful to An exam
ination of the stomachs Of the martyrs showed
that SO per cent of the food consists of insects
and their allies, while the other 80 per cent is
made up of various vegetable substances found
mostly in the stomachs Of birds taken in winter"
It is a happy thing for the bluebird that the
scientists able to set it down that so far as
its vegetable food is concerned the bird is posi-
lively harmless" The bluebird is a beauty. It
is neighborly and kindly disposed. It's appealing
spring-tfme note sounds far away, for the blue
bird is ventriIoquist. It perches in a tree at
the doorstep. but seemingly calls to you from
the skies.
The downy woodpecker is the tiniest meSnber
of the woodpecker family which spreads itself
pretty well the United States. The downy
eats everything in the bug and insect line from
tiny ants to big caterpi1lars. Frequently these
little woodpeckers are shot by orchardists be-
cause they appear to be injuring the trees. This
is what DR.. Glover, entomologist of the De
partment of Agriculture, has said concerning this
matter of suspicion:
ION one occasion a downy woodpecker was
observed making a number of small, rough
edged perforations in the bark of young shade
tree. Upon examining the tree when the bird
had flown away, it was found that wherever the
bark had been injured the young larvae of the
wood-eating beetles had been snugly coiled under
meath and had been destroyed by the birds. The
hairy woodpecker, bigger brother of the downy,
also is benehcent bird, but the little one
rather outdoes the big one in the work Of we'll
doing
The phoebe is the true harbfnger OF spring,
if the robin and the bluebrd more frequent
1y are given the honor. The phoebe belongs to
the tribe of fycatchers and it takes virtually all
of its food on the wing. It cannot come north
until spring its companion, because its
food does not fly about in cold weather.
have seen four young phoebes sitting side
by side the limb of a tree while the mother
bird for two hours struck down quarry with which
to feed them. Not mistake did she make, and
she played no favorites. Out from the limb she
would dart there would be a click Of the bill
and insect tidbit would be fed to one Of the
66dZlDRS aft an
other, the mother bird apparently remembering
which one had been given the last mouthfuI
F. E. L. Bea1 Of the Biological Survey says all
that is necessary to prove the phoebe's case
There are but few birds in the United States
more endeared to the rural and village popula-
ton than the common phoebe. Its habit Of as
sociating itself with man and his works its
trustfuI disposition and the that it never is
to prey upon any product OF husbandry have
rendered 1t almost sacred