Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1921-10-07
BENEFITS NOW EASILY SEEN.
New Orleans, September 80, 1921.

policy of Louisiana on the wild lif,
of the State has reached a poini
where breadth of vision is not es
sential to its understanding. The
most purblind of citizens can see
the effect of the work of the Con
servation Department of the State
which in a little more than a decade
has grown from a struggling, weal
body of high ideals to an organized
system whose benificient effect is
seen everywhere. The inhabitants OF
the waters of the State are increas-
ing in numbers, and especially the
kind of most benefit to humanity.
This is. known to the fishermen, es-
pecially to that class that supplies
the markets Of the State.
The natural resource Of the State
which comes within the view Of all
of the rural districts, however, is the
feathered tribe, nearly every benef-
icent species of which is rapidly in
creasing in numbers. Naturally there
are two considerations in respect to
the bird life of the State. The es-
thetic value of the denizens of the
air is great, but from a practical
point Of view the birds most i'm
portant relation to man Is economic.
In their relation to insect and other
enemies of crops, including weeds
and noxious grasses, birds are di-
rectly associated with the welfare
of man, and their value in this par
ticular has been long overlooked. It
is now becoming understood, how
ever, and farmers VINO previously
tried by every means to drive birds
from their fields are now welcoming
most Of the species. Not all birds
are beneficial, it is true, but State
and Federal governments have en-
ployed scientists to study the habits
of each species, and these scientists
have found that the beneficent
species far outnumber the injurious,
and have demonstrated that birds
may be given the credit Of being
one of the greatest controlling fact
ors in limiting the development Of
insect life and in preventing many
disastrous outbreaks.
1t is quite well known, that owing
to their extraordinary fecundity the
herring would soon become so nu-
merous as to fill the seven seas were
it not for the fishes that prey upon
them, but few persons have stopped
to consider that but for. the con-
sumption of the seeds Of weeds by
birds the earth would be covered by
a noxious growth, and agriculture
would be almost impossible. The
most serious local enemy to agricul-
ture in this section OF recent years
has been the cotton boil weevil. A
study of the subject by the Biologi-
cal Survey has shown that 3S species
of birds, most of them natives of
feed on the boil weevil,
and in the stomach of one small bird
were found no fewer than AZ adult
The Louisiana birds that
feed largely on the boil weevil are
the cuckoo or rain crow, kildeer, yel-
low-hammer, nighthawk or bullbat,
oriole, red pop or nom
pareil, purple martin, tree swallow,
barn swallow, mockingbird, Carolina
wren and bluebird. What these and
other birds have done for the cotton
crop Of the South, can not even be
of course, but it must have
been prodigious.
The tendency of farmers hereto
fore has been to dwell on the harm
birds do rather than on the good.
This was natural, for the harm done
was always apparent, while the good
could only be discovered by close
study. Whether a bird is injurious
or beneficent depends upon what it
eats, and the proportion in which it
eats different foods. If woodpeck-
ers are seen about an orchard
they are naturally accused of
doing harm, when careful investi-
CATION would show that they are ac-
tually destroying noxious insects.
Even those which do harm at one
season compensate it by eating in
sect pests another. Insects are eaten
at all times by most land birds, and
their young are fed exclusively on
this class Of food. When insects are
so numerous as to become a pest
all forms Of bird life subsist upon
them, even the birds of prey. Birds
eat the insects most easily captured.
Hence ground birds destroy count
less numbers Of insects found in dead
leaves and grass, while the tree
dwellers subsist upon entirely diff
ferent species.
The time has come when the farm
er will look carefully into the habits
Of birds, and not blindly condemn
all species, as was done not many
years ago. It is function of the Con-
servation Department to study this
subject both from the literature on
the subject and at first hand and
supply the necessary information to
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