Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1922-07-05
BIRD BULLETIN.
(From the Office of State Ornitholo-,
gist Thomas A. James, State
House, Augusta, Maine.)
FARMERS BULLETIN


The human races of the world
must depend to great extent upon
that which springs from the soil,
either as grain, fruits or vegetables,
and upon the success of the yearly
crops depends the success of the
human race. Should the crops of
one country fail for a few years,
other countries could render as
sistance SO that starvation might be
temporarily postponed, but if half a
dozen of the larger countries should
suffer an extended agricultural
famine, all life would soon cease to
exist.
There are several agencies that
tend to destroy, among them being
drought, excessive rain, fungus dis
eases and insects. There are also
agencies by which we may combat
our agricultural enemies. For in
stance, the water supply may be con
served by proper attention to the for
est growth, and the fungus diseases
may be controlled to a certain ex-
tent by chemical application, and the
insects may be controlled to large
degree by the conservation of our
wild birds.
There are many birds which feed
chiefly on insects, There are others
which feed chiefly on weed seeds.
Then, again, some of the raptores
feed on small rodents, such as
meadow mice, moles and other
rodents which are detrimental to
agricultural success. Even less than
a half a century ago, birds in gen.
eral were accused of doing damage
to nearly everything that grows, but
scientific study of the contents of
stomachs of dead birds has proven
that, with a few exceptions, birds are
an economic necessity.
Among the birds that feed chiefly
on insects, bugs, etc, are the blue
bird, robin. many of the warblers,
the woodpeeker, chickadee, wren.
swallow, oriole, meadow-lark, phoe-
be and ,kingbird. Some of the
above, do, at times take fruit, but
what little damage is done is far
overbalanced by the quantities of in
furious insects destroyed. Among
the seed-eaters are the sparrow, jun
co, bunting, horned lark and finch.
AS lIlc DtHtllCldi Nho, wv iii'' 80
clude the marsh hawk, which feeds
chiefly on mice and moles; the spar
row hawk, whose food, during the
summer months, consists largely OF
grasshoppers; the broad-wing hawk,
and -shouldered hawk. who
destroy many rodents, but their good
along this line is partly offset by the
destruction of wild birds and at
times their depredations are eX-
tended to the poultry yard.
AS truly undesirable birds we may
name the goshawks, sharped-shlnned
hawk and Cooper's hawk, as they
feed almost entirely on other birds,
except the goshawk, which destroys
MANY rabbits as we'll as grouse, etc.
When hawks become troublesome
about the poultry yard, they may be
easily trapped by setting a pole fif-
teen or twenty feet high near the
poultry yard and placing small
steel trap on top and attached to the
pole by string or wire, so that the
bird when caught will not fly away
with the trap. The smaller birds
seldom use such a pole for perchlng,
and if they should, their weight
would not spring an ordinary trap.
Always discourage the promiscuous
shooting of hawks or owls until you
have learned whether or not you
NAV be killing your best friend.