Checking the Waste: A Study in Conservation

by Mary Huston Gregory

The flicker or gold-winged woodpecker lives largely on ants, of which he eats immense quantities, seeking them not only in the trees but on the ground.

Robins are so well loved for their cheery song, for their friendliness to man, and their red breasts coming as a touch of color in returning spring, that except where they are present in great numbers, there is little complaint of the fruit they eat, even without taking into account the good work they accomplish as insect eaters. In fact only four per cent. of a robin's food is cultivated and a little less than half of it is wild fruit not prized by man. The remaining half consists of caterpillars, beetles, spiders, snails and earth-worms.

The cat-bird is also known as a cherry-eater and he frequently helps himself from strawberry and raspberry patches. He eats a larger proportion of cultivated fruit than the robin, but about twice as much wild fruit, including the sumac and poison ivy. The cat-bird eats many injurious insects, which constitute only a little less than half of his food.

The cedar-bird is sometimes called the cherry bird, and is accused of being a great cherry-stealer, but an examination of stomachs showed that only nine birds out of one hundred and fifty-two had eaten any cherries and that cherries formed only five per cent. of the food of these few. There is even evidence that this bird prefers wild fruits, which form its principal food though it eats a few insects.

The crows and blackbirds are accused of many bad habits, such as pulling up young corn, destroying large quantities of grain and injuring much fruit by pecking holes in it which are later entered by insects. Crows eat fruit to some extent, but the greater part of it is wild. Both crows and blackbirds are accused of robbing the nests of other birds. Blackbirds are injurious chiefly because they gather in such large flocks that when they descend on a field they can eat a large amount of grain in a short space of time. The greatest good accomplished by the blackbird is in the spring when it follows the plow in search of grub-worms, of which it is extremely fond. It also does much good in destroying insects in the early summer, the young birds being fed almost entirely on insect food until they are grown.

Of the crow, Doctor Merriam, who is at the head of this branch of work in the Department of Agriculture, says, "Instead of being an enemy of the farmer, as is generally believed, the crow is one of his best friends and the protector of his crops. True, during corn-planting time, the crow's bill is turned against the farmer during one month, and one month only is he his enemy. But during the other eleven months the crow is really working overtime for him. It eats thousands upon thousands of destructive insects and bugs every week, and when it comes to feeding its young, gives them a diet composed almost entirely of worms and insects that prey upon the crops."

Another government report says, "The crow should receive much credit for the insects which it destroys. In the more thickly settled parts of the country it probably does more good than harm, at least when ordinary precautions are taken to protect young poultry and newly planted corn from it." It is probable that in many parts of the country some farmers will find it desirable to reduce the number of crows and blackbirds on their farms.

The brown thrasher is a beautiful singer and eats many insects, mostly injurious. It eats some cultivated fruits. It also eats a small amount of newly planted corn, but at the same time clears the field of May beetles. Altogether it is a useful bird but not one of the highest benefit.

There are a few species of birds of which but little good can be said, and which it may be desirable to attempt to drive out in many parts of the United States. Chief of these is the English sparrow. It is of a quarrelsome disposition and is much given to driving other birds from their nests. In some districts it has completely expelled some of the most useful kinds of birds. It exists everywhere in such numbers as to render it a nuisance, and it may be said to be the greatest pest among American birds. Its favorite food is dandelion seeds, and it destroys many thousands of seeds, but as the dandelion does no real injury this habit does not offset all the harm done. It also eats other weed seeds but the greatest thing to be said in its favor is that it feeds on the cottony maple scale. It is probable that in small numbers the English sparrow might be classed among the useful, or, at least, one of the only partly harmful birds, but there is no bird whose numbers it is more desirable to reduce.

The common blue-jay is accused of some very bad habits, among them eating the eggs and young of small birds. It is a fruit eater and also a grain eater and frequently robs corn-cribs and injures newly planted fields. However, it eats some insects, mice and other small enemies of the farmer and as it is nowhere very plentiful, and does not live in flocks, there is not much cause for complaint. However, its cousin, the California jay, has an extremely bad record. It is a great fruit eater, and devastates prune, apricot, and cherry orchards. It is a serious robber of the nests of small birds and hens, and though it eats some grasshoppers and a very few weed seeds, it is thoroughly disliked by western fruit growers. It should be greatly reduced in numbers. Another California bird that has gained a bad reputation is the house finch or linnet. It does serious harm in the cherry and apricot orchards, not so much by eating as by pecking at the fruit. It probably pecks, and thus destroys, five times as much fruit as it eats. As the bird is very abundant, it sometimes causes the loss of almost the entire crop of a small fruit grower. It does not deserve protection, for it eats the buds and blossoms of fruit trees and does little to compensate for all the harm done. Its best habit is eating woolly plant-lice.