F. E. L. Beal

“ The purple grackle has been found to eat more than three times as much. In the case of the crow, corn forms one-third of the food, so that the red-winged blackbird, whose diet is made up of only a trifle more than one-eighth of grain, is really one of the least destructive species. The most important item of the bird’s food, however, is weed seed, which forms practically all of its food in winter and about 57 per cent of the fare of the whole year. The principal weed seeds eaten are those of ragweed, barnyard grass, and smartweed. ”

“ It usually breeds in large colonies, though single families, consisting of a male with several wives, may sometimes be found in a small slough, where each of the females builds, her nest and rears her own little brood, while her liege lord displays his brilliant colors and struts in the sunshine. In the Upper Mississippi Valley it finds the conditions most favorable, for the countless prairie sloughs and the margins of the numerous shallow lakes form nesting sites for thousands of redwings; and there are bred the immense flocks which sometimes do so much damage to the grain fields of the West. ”

“ Prominent among the latter are the eggs of the tent-caterpillar moths, both the orchard and forest species. As these are two of our most destructive insects, the good done by the chickadee in devouring their eggs needs no comment. During the winter the chickadee’s food is made up of larvæ, chrysalids, and eggs of moths, varied by a few seeds, but as spring brings out hordes of flying, crawling, and jumping insects, the bird varies its diet by taking also some of these. Flies and bugs are the favorites until the weather becomes quite warm, when beetles and small wasps also are enjoyed. ”

“ The cherry, unfortunately, ripens so early that it, is almost the only fruit accessible at a time when the bird's appetite has been sharpened by a long-continued diet of insects, earthworms, and dried berries, and it is no wonder that at first the rich juicy morsels are greedily eaten. In view of the fact that the robin takes ten times as much wild as cultivated fruit, it seems unwise to destroy the birds to save so little. Nor is this necessary, for by a little care both may be preserved. Where much fruit is grown, it is no great loss to give up one tree to the birds ”

“ The habits of birds of this species resemble those of others of the genus in living in swamps and woodlands rather than in gardens and orchards. The russet-back on the Pacific coast, however, seems to have become quite domestic, and wherever a stream runs through or past an orchard or garden, or the orchard is near thick chaparral, this bird is sure to be found taking its toll of the fruit and rearing its young in the thicket beside the stream. During the cherry season it takes a liberal share of the fruit, but its young, then in the nest, are fed almost entirely on insects. ”

“ Whether a bird is beneficial or injurious depends almost entirely upon what it eats. In the case of species which are very abundant, or which feed to some extent on the crops of the farmer, the question of their average diet becomes one of supreme importance, and only by stomach examination can it be satisfactorily solved. Field observations are at best but fragmentary and inconclusive and lead to no final results. Birds are often accused of eating this or that product of cultivation, when an examination of the stomachs shows the accusation to be unfounded. ”

“ In the agricultural region of the upper Mississippi Valley, by roadsides, on borders of cultivated fields, or in abandoned fields, wherever they can obtain a foothold, masses of rank weeds spring up and often form almost impenetrable thickets which afford food and shelter for immense numbers of birds and enable them to withstand great cold and the most terrible blizzards. A person visiting one of these weed patches on a sunny morning in January, when the thermometer is 20° or more below zero, will be struck with the life and animation of the busy little inhabitants. ”

“ Grain, made up mostly of scattered kernels of oats and corn, is merely a trifle, amounting to only 3 per cent, and though some of the corn may be taken from newly planted fields it is amply paid for by the May beetles which are eaten at the same time. The rest of the food consists of wild fruit or seeds. Taken all in all, the brown thrasher is a useful bird, and probably does just as good work in its secluded retreats as it would about the garden, for the swamps and groves are no doubt the breeding grounds of many insects that migrate thence to attack the farmers' crops. ”

“ It is evident that a bird so large and so abundant may exercise an important influence upon the agricultural welfare of the country it inhabits. The crow blackbird has been accused of many sins, such as stealing grain and fruit and robbing the nests of other birds; but the farmers do not undertake any war of extermination against it, and, for the most part, allow it to nest about the premises undisturbed. An examination of 2,258 stomachs showed that nearly one-third of its food consists of insects, of which the greater part are injurious. ”

“ During spring and early summer any form of insect life seems to make a desirable item in its diet, and in winter when hard pressed nothing in the animal or vegetable kingdoms which contains a morsel of nutriment is overlooked.
The insect food of the crow, which comprises about a fifth of its yearly sustenance, does much to atone for its misdemeanors. Grasshoppers, May beetles and their larvæ (white grubs) , caterpillars, weevils, and wireworms stand out prominently. In 1,103 stomachs examined these highly injurious forms comprised over 80 per cent of the insect food. ”

“ Large flocks of crow blackbirds no doubt do considerable injury to grain crops, and there seems to be no remedy except the destruction of the birds, which is in itself expensive. During the breeding season, however, the species does much good by eating insects and by feeding them to its young, which are reared almost entirely upon this food. The bird does the greatest amount of good in spring, when it follows the plow in search of large grub worms, of which it is so fond that it sometimes literally crams its stomach full of them. ”

“ Most of the damage done by birds and complained of by farmers and fruit growers arises from this very cause. The berry-bearing shrubs and seed-bearing weeds have been cleared away, and the birds have no recourse but to attack the cultivated grain or fruit which have replaced their natural food supply. The great majority of land birds subsist upon insects during the period of nesting and moulting, and also feed their young upon them during the first few weeks. Many species live almost entirely upon insects, taking vegetable food only when other subsistence fails. ”

“ Briefly stated, more than half of the meadowlark’s food consists of harmful insects; its vegetable food is composed either of noxious weeds or waste grain, and the remainder is made up of useful beetles or neutral insects and spiders. A strong point in the bird’s favor is that, although naturally an insect eater, it is able to subsist on vegetable food, and consequently is not forced to migrate in cold weather farther than is necessary to find ground free from snow. ”

“ But even if the bird really does more harm than good, what is the remedy! For years the rice planters have been employing men and boys to shoot the birds and drive them away from the fields, but in spite of the millions slain every year their numbers do not decrease. In fact, a large part of the loss sustained is not in the grain which the birds actually eat, but in the outlay necessary to prevent them from taking it all. At present there seems to be no effective remedy short of complete extermination of the species, and this is evidently impracticable even were it desirable. ”

“ The beetles nearly all belong to the group of snout beetles, more commonly known as weevils. These insects are mostly of small size, and nearly all are known to the farmer or fruit raiser as pests. Seventeen of them were found in one stomach. The plum curculio and the cotton-boll weevil may be taken as fair examples. Grasshoppers do not at any time constitute an important element of the food of the chickadee, as they are too large for so small a bird; moreover they are for the most part terrestrial insects, while the bird is essentially arboreal. Small wasps and ants are eaten to some extent. ”

“ Thus, as a rule, insectivorous birds eat the insects that are most easily obtained, provided they do not have some peculiarly disagreeable property. It is not probable that a bird habitually passes by one kind of insect to look for another which is more appetizing, and there seems little evidence in support of the theory that tire selection of food is restricted to any particular species of insect, for it is evident that a bird eats those which by its own method of seeking are most easily obtained. Thus, a ground-feeding bird eats those it finds among the dead leaves and grass ”

“ What they lack in size of body they more than make up in numbers of individuals. While in the case of some larger birds, as, for instance, the flicker, there is one pair of eyes to look for food for one large stomach, we have in the case of the ten times as numerous titmice an equivalent stomach capacity divided into 10 parts, each furnished with a pair of eyes and other accessories, as wings and feet. As against the one place occupied by the larger bird, 10 are being searched for food at the same time by the smaller species. ”

“ It is thus apparent that a bird's diet is likely to be quite varied, and to differ at different seasons of the year.
In investigating the food habits of birds, field observation can be relied on only to a limited extent, for it is not always easy to determine what a bird really eats by watching it. In order to be positive on this point, it is necessary to examine the stomach contents. When birds are suspected of doing injury to field crops or fruit trees, a few individuals should be shot and their stomachs examined. ”

“ It is at this season that the titmice do their greatest good, for when flying and crawling insects are no more to be found, the birds must feed upon such species as they find hibernating in crevices, or upon the eggs of insects laid in similar places. In winter’s dearth of moving insects the search for such animal food as may be found is perforce thorough and unremitting. ”