The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-06-03

structive pest, has been proved to be a favorite
food for the killdeer.
The chimney swift, almost always called the
chimney swallow, although it is not a 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, a tree or a building. Its only
resting place is on sooty bricks in the dark
interior of a chimney or on the inner wood of
some hollow tree in a wilderness that knows no
chimney. All of the swift's food is captured on
the wing. 1t 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 its nesting
material while on the wing. 1t has a curious
habit, while in fight, of nipping off the tips of
dead twigs, and so quickly and neatly is the
thing done that the eye barely can follow the
operation.
The ~bluebird, with its "violet of song" is loved
wherever it is known. Luckily bluebirds are
prolific creatures, for about twenty years ago a
severely cold winter made such inroads on the
tribe that it was feared the birds might never
come back into their own. They came back, and
now there are as many as ever and they are con-
tinuing a warfare against mans enemies with no
p~acihcist in the land to ~interpose objection.
The bluebird is given third place in the list of
the ten most beneicent birds. Science is cruel
in order to be kind. Nearly nine hundred blue
birds met death so that the scientists might
prove that they were useful to man. An exam
nation of the stomachs of the martyrs showed
that IS 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"
1t is a happy thing for the bluebird that the
scientists are 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. II
is neiRhhOrly and kindly diSDOSed IT'S anOealinp
spring-time note sounds far away, for the blue
bird is a ventriloquist. 1t perches in a tree at
the doorstep, but seemingly calls to you from
the skies.
The downy woodpecker is the tiniest member
OF the woodpecker family which spreads itself
pretty well over the United States. The downy
eats everything in the bug and insect line from
tiny ants to big caterpillars. Frequently these
little woodpeckers are shot by orchardists be-
cause they appear to be injuring the trees. This
is what DR.. Glover. an entomologist OF the De-
partment of Agriculture, has said concerning this
matter of suspicion:
"On one occasion a downy woodpecker was
observed making a number of small, rough
edged perforations in the bark Of a young shade
tree. Upon examining the tree when the bird
had flown away, 1t 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, a bigger brother of the downy,
also is a benefcent bird, but the little one
rather outdoes the big one in the work of we'll
doing.
The phoebe is the true harbinger of spring,
even If the robin and the bluebird more frequent
ly are given the honor. The phoebe belongs to
the tribe of hycatchers and 1t takes virtually all
OF its food on the wing. 1t cannot come north
until spring comes as its companion, because its
food does not fly about in cold weather.
l have seen four young phoebes sitting side
by side on the limb of a tree while the mother
bird for two hours struck down quarry with which
to feed them. Not a 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 an insect tidbit would be fed to one of the
fedglings. The young were fed one after an
other. the mother bird apparently remembering
which one had been given the last mouthful.
f.. E.. L. Beal 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-
tion than the common phoebe. It's habit of as
s~ociating itself with man and his works, it's
trustful disposition and the fact that 1t never is
seen to prey upon any product of husbandry have
rendered 1t almost sacred"