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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It usually breeds in large colonies, though single families, consisting of a male and several females, may sometimes be found in a small slough, where each female 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 the species finds most favorable conditions, for the countless prairie sloughs and the margins of the numerous shallow lakes afford nesting sites for thousands of red-wings; and here 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. ”

“ In their food habits they are even more to be commended than their eastern relative. Their insect food is obtainable at all times of the year, and the general diet varies only in the fall, when some fruit, principally elderberries, is eaten, though an occasional blackberry or grape is also relished. In an examination of 217 stomachs of the western bluebird, animal matter (insects and spiders) was found to the extent of 82 per cent and vegetable matter to the extent of 18 per cent. The bulk of the former consists of bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Various kinds of cultivated fruits also are eaten, and local damage to such crops as apples, melons, peas, beans, peanuts, and almonds is occasionally reported. In long, rigorous winters, the crow, like other birds, resorts to the fruit of numerous wild plants, as dogwood, sour gum, hackberry, smilax, and the several species of sumac and poison ivy.
Damage to the eggs of poultry may be reduced to a minimum by careful housing of laying hens, and the farmer can protect his sprouting grain to a large extent by the use of tar-coated seed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The grackle is accused of many sins, such as stealing grain and fruit and robbing the nests of other birds. An examination of 2,346 stomachs shows that nearly one-third of its food consists of insects, most of which are injurious. The bird also eats a few snails, crawfishes, salamanders, small fish, and occasionally a mouse. The stomach contents do not indicate that it robs other birds’ nests to any great extent, as remains of birds and birds’ eggs amount to less than half of 1 per cent. ”

“ At times, however, the damage to corn becomes a serious problem, and were it not possible to make use of such deterrents as coal tar upon seed corn there would be little friendship for the crow in some sections of the East. The “pulling” of corn is a trait most prevalent in small-field areas. Wheat and oats suffer similar damage at times, especially in the Northwestern States, where these grains predominate. About the only safeguard to ripening grain is the constant use of powder and shot or the scarecrow. ”

“ Six stomachs contained the bones of mammals and two those of a lizard. No bird has a worse reputation for nest robbing than has the eastern jay, and yet of 530 stomachs of the eastern species only 6 contained eggshells or the bones of birds. This comparison serves to show what a marauder and nest thief the California jay really is.
In its vegetable diet this bird much resembles its eastern relative, the most remarkable difference being in the matter of fruit eating. With greater opportunities the California bird has developed a greater appetite for fruit and indulges it to the fullest extent. ”

“ Where wild fruit is not abundant, a few fruit-bearing shrubs and vines judiciously planted will serve for ornament and provide food for the birds. The Russian mulberry is a vigorous grower and a profuse bearer, ripening at the same time as the cherry. So far as observation has gone, most birds seem to prefer its fruit to any other. It is believed that a number of mulberry trees planted around the garden or orchard would fully protect the more valuable fruits. ”

“ Examination of many stomachs shows that in winter the tree sparrow feeds entirely upon seeds of weeds. Probably each bird consumes about one-fourth of an ounce a day. In an article contributed in 1881 to the New York Tribune the writer estimated the amount of weed seed annually destroyed by these birds in Iowa. On the basis of one-fourth of an ounce of seed eaten daily by each bird, and an average of ten birds to each square mile, remaining in their winter range 200 days, there would be a total of 1,750,000 pounds, or 875 tons of weed seed consumed in a single season by this one species. ”

“ While the robin takes some cultivated fruits, it must be remembered that, being a natural enemy of the insect world, it has been working during the whole season to make that crop a possibility, and when the fruit ripens the robin already has a standing account with the farmer for services rendered, with the credits up to this time entirely on his side. ”

“ As their name is legion, the sum total of the fruit that they destroy is more than the fruit raiser can well spare. As the bird has a stout beak, it has no difficulty in breaking the skin of the hardest fruit and feasting upon the pulp, thereby spoiling the fruit and giving weaker-billed birds a chance to sample and acquire a taste for what they might not otherwise have molested. Complaints against this bird have been many and loud, more especially in the years when fruit crops first came to be an important factor in the prosperity of the Pacific coast. ”

“ It breeds east to the Great Plains and north into Canada, and winters over most of its breeding range in the United States and south to Guatemala. At home in fields, meadows, and orchards, and about ranch buildings and cultivated lands generally, it nests in bushes and weeds, sometimes in trees, and is very gregarious, especially about barnyards and corrals. The bird feeds freely in stockyards and in cultivated fields, and when fruit is ripe does not hesitate to take a share. During the cherry season in California the birds are much in the orchards. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When a bird takes a single peck from a cherry or an apricot, it spoils the whole fruit, and in this way may ruin half a dozen in taking a single meal. It is safe to say that the fruit pulp found in the stomach does not represent more than one-fifth of what is actually destroyed. ”

“ It is on account of its vegetable food that the grackle most deserves condemnation. Grain is eaten during the whole year, and only for a short time in summer is other food attractive enough to induce the bird to alter its diet. The grain taken in winter and spring probably consists of waste kernels from the stubble. The stomachs do not indicate that the bird pulls sprouting grain; but the wheat eaten in July and August and the corn eaten in fall are probably from fields of standing grain. ”

“ In fact none of our native birds so much concerns the average farmer of the Eastern States as the common crow. Many of our present criticisms of this bird, as its pulling sprouting corn, feeding on ripening ears, damaging fruits of various kinds, destroying poultry and wild birds, and disseminating diseases of live stock, were common complaints in the days of the early colonists. ”

“ Though naturally building its nest under an overhanging cliff of rock or earth, or in the mouth of a cave, the preference of the eastern species for the vicinity of farm buildings is so marked that in the more thickly settled parts of the country the bird is seldom seen at any great distance from a farmhouse, except where a bridge spanning a stream affords a secure spot for a nest. ”

“ It is evident that a pair of phœbes must materially reduce the number of insects near a garden or field, as the birds often, if not always, raise two broods a year, and each brood numbers from four to six young.
There is hardly a more useful species, about the farm than the phœbe, and it should receive every encouragement. To furnish nesting boxes is helpful, but not necessary, as it usually prefers a more open situation, like a shed or a nook under the eaves, but it should be protected from cats and other marauders. ”

“ In early spring crawfish are eagerly sought, and other aquatic food as fish and mollusks lend variety to the crow’s bill of fare the year round. In the consumption of toads, salamanders, frogs, and some snakes, which together compose a little over 2 per cent of the yearly food, the crow is doubtless doing harm. Small rodents occurred in the stomachs collected nearly every month, but it is often difficult to determine whether small mammals found in birds’ stomachs were taken alive or found dead. ”

“ In June caterpillars are a favorite food, and weevils of various kinds are taken in varying quantities throughout summer and fall. About half of the remaining 20 per cent of insect food is composed of beneficial ground beetles, ladybirds, predacious bugs, and parasitic wasps, and related forms, the rest consisting of neutral or injurious forms. Numerous instances are on record where fields badly infested with white grubs or grasshoppers have been favorite resorts of crows, whose voracity has resulted in a material suppression of the pest. ”

“ It breeds in the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and less commonly in the Great Basin and on the Pacific coast. Its hostility to hawks and crows is proverbial, and for this reason a family of kingbirds is a desirable adjunct to a poultry yard. On one occasion in the knowledge of the writer a hawk which attacked a brood of young turkeys was pounced upon and so severely buffeted by a pair of kingbirds whose nest was near by that the would-be robber was glad to escape without his prey. Song birds that nest near the kingbird are similarly protected. ”

“ Since 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 with care both birds and fruit may be preserved. Where much fruit is grown it is no great loss to give up one tree to the birds, and in some cases the crop can be protected by scarecrows. ”

“ Although the crow blackbird eats a few cherries and blackberries in their season, and in the fall some wild fruit, it apparently does no damage in this way.
Fig. 11.—Purple grackle. Length, about 12 inches.
Large flocks of grackles 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. ”

“ It breeds far north through Canada, and is found even in Alaska. Although the great bulk of the species leaves the Northern States in winter, a few individuals remain in sheltered swamps, where wild berries furnish abundant food. The robin is an omnivorous feeder and its food habits have sometimes caused apprehension to the fruit grower, for it is fond of cherries and other small fruits, particularly the earlier varieties. ”

“ It is thus evident that in the course of a year birds destroy an incalculable number of insects, and it is difficult to overestimate the value of their services in restraining the great tide of insect life. ”