the smaller branches of some neighboring tree, carefully examining each
leaf for caterpillars, and occasionally trilling a few notes to its mate.
Observation both in the field and laboratory shows that caterpillars
constitute the largest item of its fare. In 113 stomachs they formed 34
per cent of the food, and are eaten in varying quantities during all the
months in which the bird remains in this country, although the fewest
are eaten in July, when a little fruit is also taken. The other insects
consist of beetles, bugs, ants, wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders. The
beetles are principally click beetles, the larvæ of which are among the
most destructive insects known; and the bugs include plant and bark lice,
both very harmful, but so small and obscure as to be passed over unnoticed
by most birds. Ants are eaten mostly in spring, grasshoppers in July and
August, and wasps and spiders with considerable regularity throughout the
season.
Vegetable matter amounts to only a little more than 10 per cent of the
food during the bird's stay in the United States, so that the possibility
of the oriole doing much damage to crops is very limited. The bird has
been accused of eating peas to a considerable extent, but remains of peas
were found in only two stomachs. One writer says that it damages grapes,
but none were found. In fact, a few blackberries and cherries comprised
the only cultivated fruit detected in the stomachs, the remainder of the
vegetable food being wild fruit and a few miscellaneous seeds.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Baltimore oriole.]
THE CROW BLACKBIRD, OR GRACKLE.
(_Quiscalus quiscula._)
The crow blackbird (fig. 13) or one of its subspecies is a familiar
object in all of the States east of the Rocky Mountains. It is a resident
throughout the year as far north as southern Illinois, and in summer
extends its range into British America. In the Mississippi Valley it is
one of the most abundant birds, preferring to nest in the artificial
groves and windbreaks near farms instead of the natural "timber" which
it formerly used. It breeds also in parks and near buildings, often in
considerable colonies. Farther east, in New England, it is only locally
abundant, though frequently seen in migration. After July it becomes very
rare, or entirely disappears, owing to the fact that it collects in large
flocks and retires to some quiet place, where food is abundant and where
it can remain undisturbed during the molting season, but in the latter
days of August and throughout September it usually reappears in immense
numbers before moving southward.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Crow blackbird.]
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. The bird also eats a few
snails, crayfishes, 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 one
half of 1 per cent.
It is, however, on account of its vegetable food that the grackle is most
likely to be accused of doing damage. Grain is eaten during the whole
year, and during only a short time in summer is other food attractive
enough to induce the bird to alter its diet. The grain taken in the
winter and spring months probably consists of waste kernels gathered 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 the
fall, are probably taken from fields of standing grain. The total grain
consumed during the year constitutes 45 per cent of the whole food, but
it is safe to say that at least half is waste grain, and consequently of
no value. Although the crow blackbird eats a few cherries and blueberries
in their season, and some wild fruit in the fall, it apparently does no
damage in this way.
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. The farmer must decide for himself
whether or not these birds cause more damage than can be repaid by insect
destruction; but when they destroy an entire crop it is no consolation to
know that they have already eaten a multitude of insects which, if left
alone, would have accomplished the same result.
THE SPARROWS.[2]
[2] The sparrows here mentioned are all native species. For a full
account of the English sparrow, including its introduction, habits, and
depredations, see Bull. No. 1 of the Division of Ornithology, published in
1896.
Sparrows are not obtrusive birds, either in plumage, song, or action.
There are some forty species, with nearly as many subspecies, in North
America, but their differences, both in plumage and habits, are in most
cases too obscure to be readily recognized, and not more than half a dozen
forms are generally known in any one locality. All the species are more or
less migratory, but so widely are they distributed that there is probably
no part of the country where some can not be found throughout the year.
While sparrows are noted seed eaters, they do not by any means confine
themselves to a vegetable diet. During the summer, and especially in the
breeding season, they eat many insects, and probably feed their young
largely upon the same food. An examination of the stomachs of three
species--the song sparrow (_Melospiza_), chipping sparrow (_Spizella
socialis_), and field sparrow (_Spizella pusilla_) (fig. 14)--shows
that about one third of the food consists of insects, comprising many
injurious beetles, such as snout-beetles or weevils, and leaf beetles.
Many grasshoppers are eaten, and in the case of the chipping sparrow
these insects form one eighth of the food. Grasshoppers would seem to
be rather large morsels, but the bird probably confines itself to the
smaller species; indeed, this is indicated by the fact that the greatest
amount (over 36 per cent) is eaten in June, when the larger species are
still young and the small species most numerous. Besides the insects
already mentioned, many wasps and bugs are taken. Predaceous and parasitic
Hymenoptera and predaceous beetles, all useful insects, are eaten only
to a slight extent, so that as a whole the sparrows' insect diet may be
considered beneficial.
Their vegetable food is limited almost exclusively to hard seeds. This
might seem to indicate that the birds feed to some extent upon grain, but
the stomachs examined show only one kind--oats--and but little of that.
The great bulk of the food is made up of grass and weed seed, which form
almost the entire diet during winter, and the amount consumed is immense.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Field sparrow.]
Anyone acquainted with the agricultural region of the Upper Mississippi
Valley can not have failed to notice the enormous growth of weeds in every
waste spot where the original sward has been disturbed. By the roadside,
on the borders of cultivated fields, or in abandoned fields, wherever they
can obtain a foothold, masses of rank weeds spring up, and often form
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. Instead of
sitting forlorn and half frozen, they may be seen flitting from branch to
branch, twittering and fluttering, and showing every evidence of enjoyment
and perfect comfort. If one of them be killed and examined, it will be
found in excellent condition--in fact, a veritable ball of fat.
The snowbird (_Junco hyemalis_) and tree sparrow (_Spizella monticola_)
are perhaps the most numerous of all the sparrows. The latter fairly
swarms all over the Northern States in winter, arriving from the north
early in October and leaving in April. Examination of many stomachs shows
thats in Winter the tree sparrow feeds entirely upon seeds of weeds; and
probably each bird consumes about one-fourth of an ounce a day. In an
article contributed to the New York Tribune in 1881 the writer estimated
the amount of weed seed annually destroyed by these birds in the State of
Iowa. Upon the basis of one-fourth of an ounce of seed eaten daily by each
bird, and supposing that the birds averaged ten to each square mile, and
that they remain in their winter range two hundred days, we shall have
a total of 1,750,000 pounds, or 875 tons, of weed seed consumed by this
one species in a single season. Large as these figures may seem, they
certainly fall far short of the reality. The estimate of ten birds to a
square mile is much within the truth, for the tree sparrow is certainly
more abundant than this in winter in Massachusetts, where the food supply
is less than in the Western States, and I have known places in Iowa where
several thousand could be seen within the space of a few acres. This
estimate, moreover, is for a single species, while, as a matter of fact,
there are at least half a dozen birds (not all sparrows) that habitually
feed on these seeds during winter.
Farther south the tree sparrow is replaced in winter by the white-throated
sparrow, the white-crowned sparrow, the fox sparrow, the song sparrow,
the field sparrow, and several others; so that all over the country there
are a vast number of those seed eaters at work during the colder months
reducing next year's crop of worse than useless plants.
In treating of the value of birds, it has been customary to consider them
mainly as insect destroyers; but the foregoing illustration seems to
show that seed eaters have a useful function, which has never been fully
appreciated.
THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.
(_Zamelodia ludoviciana._)
The beautiful rose-breasted grosbeak (fig. 15) breeds in the northern half
of the United States east of the Missouri River, but spends its winters
beyond our boundaries. Unfortunately it is not abundant in New England,
and nowhere as plentiful as it should be. It frequents groves and orchards
rather than gardens or dooryards, but probably the beauty of the male is
the greatest obstacle to its increase; the fully adult bird is pure black
and white, with a broad patch of brilliant rose color upon the breast and
under each wing. On account of this attractive plumage the birds are
highly prized for ladies' hats; and consequently heave been shot in season
and out, till the wonder is not that there are so few, but that any remain
at all.
When the Colorado potato beetle first swept over the land, and naturalists
and farmers were anxious to discover whether or not there were any enemies
which would prey upon the pest, the grosbeak was almost the only bird seen
to eat the beetles. Further observation confirmed the fact, and there can
be no reasonable doubt that where the bird is abundant it has contributed
very much to the abatement of the pest which has been noted during the
last decade. But this is not the only good which the bird does, for many
other noxious insects besides the potato beetle are also eaten.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Rose-breasted grosbeak.]
The vegetable food of the grosbeak consists of buds and blossoms of forest
trees, and seeds, but the only damage of which it has been accused is the
stealing of green peas. The writer has observed it eating peas and has
examined the stomachs of several that had been killed in the very act. The
stomachs contained a few peas and enough potato beetles, old and young, as
well as other harmful insects, to pay for all the peas the birds would be
likely to eat in a whole season. The garden where this took place adjoined
a small potato field which earlier in the season had been so badly
infested with the beetles that the vines were completely riddled. The
grosbeaks visited the field every day, and finally brought their fledged
young. The young birds stood in a row on the topmost rail of the fence and
were fed with the beetles which their parents gathered. When a careful
inspection was made a few days later, not a beetle, old or young, could be
found; the birds had swept them from the field and saved the potatoes.
It is easy to advise measures either for increasing the numbers of this
bird or inducing it to take up its residence on the farm. Naturally it
inhabits thin, open woods or groves, and the change from such places to
orchards would be simple--in fact, has already been made in some parts
of Pennsylvania and Ohio. In New England the bird is somewhat rare, and
perhaps the best that can be done here or elsewhere it to see that it is
thoroughly protected.
THE SWALLOWS.
There are seven common species of swallows within the limits of the United
States, four of which have, to some extent, abandoned their primitive
nesting habits and attached themselves to the abodes of man. As a group,
swallows are gregarious and social in an eminent degree. Some species
build nests in large colonies, occasionally numbering thousands; in the
case of others only two or three pairs are found together; while still
others nest habitually in single pairs.
Their habits are too familiar to require any extended description. Their
industry and tirelessness are wonderful, and during the day it is rare to
see swallows at rest except just before their departure for the South,
when they assemble upon telegraph wires or upon the roofs of buildings,
apparently making plans for the journey.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Barn swallow.]
A noticeable characteristic of several of the species is their attachment
to man. In the eastern part of the country the barn swallow (_Chelidon
erythrogastra_) (fig. 16) now builds exclusively under roofs, having
entirely abandoned the rock caves and cliffs in which it formerly nested.
More recently the cliff swallow (_Petrochelidon lunifrons_) has found a
better nesting site under the eaves of buildings than was afforded by the
overhanging-cliffs of earth or stone which it once used, and to which it
still resorts occasionally in the East, and habitually in the unsettled
West. The martin (_Progne subis_) and white-bellied swallow (_Tachycineta
bicolor_) nest either in houses supplied for the purpose, in abandoned
nests of woodpeckers, or in natural crannies in rocks. The other species
have not yet abandoned their primitive habitats, but possibly may do so as
the country becomes more thickly settled.
Field observation will convince any ordinarily attentive person that the
food of swallows must consist of the smaller insects captured in mid-air,
or perhaps in some cases picked from the tops of tall grass or weeds. This
observation is borne out by an examination of stomachs, which shows that
the food consists of many small species of beetles which are much on the
wing; many species of Diptera (mosquitoes and their allies), with large
quantities of flying ants and a few insects of similar kinds. Most of them
are either injurious or annoying, and the numbers destroyed by swallows
are not only, beyond calculation, but almost beyond imagination.
The white-bellied swallow eats a considerable number of berries of the
bayberry, or wax myrtle. During migrations and in winter it has a habit of
roosting in these shrubs, and it probably obtains the fruit at that time.
It is a mistake to tear down the nests of a colony of cliff swallows from
the eaves of a barn, for so far from disfiguring a building the nests make
a picturesque addition, and their presence should be encouraged by every
device. It is said that cliff and barn swallows can be induced to build
their nests in a particular locality, otherwise suitable, by providing a
quantity of mud to be used as mortar. Barn swallows may also be encouraged
by cutting a small hole in the gable of the barn, while martins and
white-bellied swallows will be grateful for boxes like those for the
bluebird, but placed in some higher situation.
THE CEDAR BIRD.
(_Ampelis cedrorum._)
The cedar waxwing, or cherry bird (fig. 17), inhabits the whole of the
United States, but is much less common in the West. Although the great
bulk of the species retires southward in winter, the bird is occasionally
found in every State during the colder months, especially if wild berries
are abundant. Its proverbial fondness for cherries has given rise to its
popular name, and much complaint has been made on account of the fruit
eaten. Observation has shown, however, that its depredations are confined
to trees on which the fruit ripens earliest, while later varieties are
comparatively untouched. This is probably owing to the fact that when wild
fruits ripen they are preferred to cherries, and really constitute the
bulk of the cedar bird's diet.
In 152 stomachs examined animal matter formed only 13 and vegetable 87
per cent, showing that the bird is not wholly a fruit eater. With the
exception of a few snails, all the animal food consisted of insects,
mainly beetles--and all but one more or less noxious, the famous elm
leaf-beetle being among the number. Bark or scale lice were found in
several stomachs, while the remainder of the animal food was made up of
grasshoppers, bugs, and the like. Three nestlings were found to have been
fed almost entirely on insects.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Cedar bird.]
Of the 87 per cent of vegetable food, 74 consisted entirely of wild fruit
or seeds and 13 of cultivated fruit, but a large part of the latter was
made up of blackberries and raspberries, and it is very doubtful whether
they represented cultivated varieties. Cherry stealing is the chief
complaint against this bird, but of the 152 stomachs only 9, all taken in
June and July, contained any remains of cultivated cherries, and these
aggregate but 5 per cent of the year's food. As 41 stomachs were collected
in those months, it is evident that the birds do not live to any great
extent on cultivated cherries.
Although the cherry bird is not a great insect destroyer, it does some
good work in this way, since it probably rears its young mostly upon
insect food. On the other hand, it does not devour nearly as much
cultivated fruit as has been asserted, and most, if not all, of the
damage can be prevented. The bird should therefore be considered a useful
species, and as such should be accorded all possible protection.
THE CATBIRD.
(_Galeoscoptes carolinensis._)
The catbird (fig. 18), like the thrasher, is a lover of swamps, and
delights to make its home in a tangle of wild grapevines, greenbriars,
and shrubs, where it is safe from attack and can find its favorite food
in abundance. It is found throughout the United States west to the Rocky
Mountains; occurs also in Washington, Idaho, and Utah, and extends
northward into British America. It winters in the Southern States, Cuba,
Mexico, and Central America.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Catbird.]
The catbird always attracts attention, and the intruder upon its haunts
soon understands that he is not welcome. There is no mistaking the meaning
of the sneering voice with which he is saluted, and there is little doubt
that this gave rise to the popular prejudice against the bird; but the
feeling has been increased by the fact that the species is sometimes a
serious annoyance to fruit growers. All such reports, however, seem to
come from the prairie country of the West. In New England, according
to the writer's experience the catbird is seldom seen about gardens
or orchards; the reason may possibly be found in the fact that on the
prairies fruit-bearing shrubs which afford so large a part of this bird's
food are conspicuously absent. With the settlement of this region comes an
extensive planting of orchards, vineyards, and small fruit gardens, which
furnish shelter and nesting sites for the catbird, as well as for other
species, with a consequent large increase in their numbers, but without
providing the native fruits upon which they have been accustomed to feed.
Under these circumstances, what is more natural than for the birds to
turn to cultivated fruits for their supplies? The remedy is obvious;
cultivated fruits can be protected by the simple expedient of planting
wild species or others which are preferred by the birds. Some experiments
with catbirds in captivity showed that the Russian mulberry was preferred
to any cultivated fruit that could be offered.
The stomachs of 213 catbirds wore examined and found to contain 44 per
cent of animal (insect) and 56 per cent of vegetable food.[3] Ants,
beetles, caterpillars, and grasshoppers constitute three-fourths of the
animal food, the remainder being made up of bugs, miscellaneous insects
and spiders. One-third of the vegetable food consists of cultivated
fruits, or those which may be cultivated, such as strawberries,
raspberries, and blackberries; but while we debit the bird with the whole
of this, it is probable--and in the eastern and well-wooded part of the
country almost certain--that a large part was obtained from wild vines.
The rest of the vegetable matter is mostly wild fruit, such as cherries,
dogwood, sour gum, elder berries, greenbriar, spice berries, black alder,
sumac, and poison ivy.
[3] The investigation of the food of the catbird, brown thrasher, and
house wren was made by Mr. Sylvester D. Judd and published in the Yearbook
of the Department of Agriculture for 1895, pp. 405-418.
Although the catbird sometimes does considerable harm by destroying small
fruit, the bird can not be considered injurious. On the contrary, in most
parts of the country it does far more good than harm, and the evil it does
can be reduced appreciably by the methods already pointed out.
THE BROWN THRASHER.
(_Harporhynchus rufus._)
The brown thrasher (fig. 19) breeds throughout the United States east
of the Great Plains, and winters in the south Atlantic and Gulf States.
It occasionally visits the garden or orchard, but nests in swamps or in
groves standing upon low ground. While it generally prefers a thickly
grown retreat, it sometimes builds in a pile of brush at a distance from
trees. On account of its more retiring habits it is not so conspicuous
as the robin, although it may be equally abundant. Few birds can excel
the thrasher in sweetness of song, but it is so shy that its notes are
not heard often enough to be appreciated. Its favorite time for singing
is the early morning, when, perched on the top of some tall bush or low
tree, it gives an exhibition of vocal powers which would do credit to a
mockingbird. Indeed, in the South, where the latter bird is abundant, the
thrasher is known as the sandy mocker.
The food of the brown thrasher consists of both fruit and insects. An
examination of 121 stomachs showed 30 per cent of vegetable and 64 of
animal food, practically all insects, and mostly taken in spring before
fruit is ripe. Half the insects were beetles, and the remainder chiefly
grasshoppers, caterpillars, bugs, and spiders. A few predaceous beetles
were eaten, but, on the whole, its work as an insect destroyer may be
considered beneficial.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Brown thrasher.]
Eight per cent of the food is made up of fruits like raspberries and
currants which are or may be cultivated, but the raspberries at least
are as likely to belong to wild as to cultivated varieties. 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.
THE HOUSE WREN.
(_Troglodytes aëdon._)