Arizona republican., 1919-11-23

which consume the leaves, and on cob ling worms which destroy fruit. one naturalist found that four Chickadees had eaten 105 female canker worm omhts. With scalpel, tweezers, and miscroscope these moths were exam ined and each was found to contain on an average of 1855 eggs. This gives total of nearly 10000 cankeral moth eggs destroyed by four birds in few minutes. The chickadee is very fond of eggs of this moth and hunts them assiduously during the four weeks oi the summer when the moths are lay ing them.
 "The nighthawk, which feeds main ly in the evening and which is equally at home in the pine barrens of Florida, the praries of Dakota or the upper air of Arizona destroyes insects of many kinds. A government agent col lected one in the stomach of which were the remains of 34 May beetles, the larvae of which are the white grubs well known to farmers on ac count of their destruction of potatoes and other vegetables. Several stomachs have been found to contain 50 or more different kinds of insects and the num- Der of individuals in some cases run into the thousands. Nighthawks also eat grasshoppers, potato beetles, cu cumber beetles, boil weevils, leafhop pers and numerous grants and mos qutos. Surely this splendid represen- tative of the goat sucker family de- serves the gratitude of all American citizens.
 Tent Caterpillar
 Among the branches of certain of our fruit trees we sometimes see large webs which have been made by the tent caterpillars, and invading hosts seem to have pitched its tents among the bows on all sides. If undisturbed these caterpillars strip the foliage from the trees. Fortunately there IS bird which is very fond of these hairy intruders. This is the cuckoo, and he eats so many that his stomach actually becomes lined with a thick coating of hair from their woody bodies. The Arizona Oriole also is fond of rifling these webs. Another well known bird that helps to make this part of the world habitable is the 1 flicker. It is popular in every neigh horhood where it is found and is known by a wide variety of local names over 125 of which have been recorded Golden winged woodpecker !, some people call it, other names are | highholder, wakeup, walkup, yellow hammer and pigeon woodpecker. More than half of its food consists of ants In Arizona, take as a whole, flickers are very numerous, and we have 6l known birds of the species.
 ''Let us not forget that any creature which eats ants is a decided boon tC i humanity. Ants, besides being wood borers invaders of pantries, killers oi young birds, nuisances to campers ant barefooted boys. care for and perpetu- ate plant lice which infest vegetation in all parts of the country to our very serious loss.
 Predatory and Birds of Prey
 There are some large predatory birds which destroy the lives of many game birds and others of the weaker species. On game farms, therefore, ar unpleasant but necessary task is tht shouting or trapping of hawks, owls crows and eagles. At first thought il might seems best to wage a war oi absolute extermination on these of- | lenders. and some gamekeepers urge | that this should be done. Personally I am opposed to any such course, one reason being that this would not nec- essarily forward the best interests Of the game birds it is desired to serve