particularly old orchards in which the trees are partially decayed.
He makes his nest in a hollow branch where perhaps a woodpecker had a
domicile the year before, but he is a pugnacious character, and if he
happens to fancy one of the boxes that have been put up for the bluebirds
he does not hesitate to take it. He is usually not slow to avail himself
of boxes, gourds, tin cans, or empty jars placed for his accommodation.
As regards food habits, the house wren is entirely beneficial.
Practically, he can be said to live upon animal food alone, for an
examination of 62 stomachs showed that 98 per cent of the stomach
contents was made up of insects or their allies, and only 2 per cent was
vegetable, including bits of grass and similar matter, evidently taken by
accident with the insects. Half of this food consisted of grasshoppers
and beetles; the remainder of caterpillars, bugs, and spiders. As the
house wren is a prolific breeder, frequently rearing from twelve to
sixteen young in a season, a family of these birds must cause considerable
reduction in the number of insects in a garden. Wrens are industrious
foragers, searching every tree, shrub, or vine for caterpillars, examining
every post and rail of the fence, and every cranny in the wall for insects
or spiders. They do not, as a rule, fly far afield, but work industriously
in the immediate vicinity of their nests. In this way they become valuable
aids in the garden or orchard, and by providing suitable nesting boxes
they may be induced to take up residence where their services will do most
good. Their eccentricities in the selection of a home are well-known.
Almost anything, from an old cigar box to a tomato can, an old teapot, a
worn-out boot, or a horse's skull, is acceptable, provided it be placed
well up from the ground and out of reach of cats and other prowlers.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--House wren.]
It does not seem possible to have too many wrens, and every effort should
be made to protect them and to encourage their nesting about the house.
THE ROBIN.
(_Merula migratoria._)
The robin (fig. 21) is found throughout the United States east of the
Great Plains, and is represented farther west by a slightly different
subspecies. It extends 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 an abundant supply of food.
The robin builds its nest in orchards and gardens, and occasionally takes
advantage of a nook about the house, or under the shelter of the roof of
a shed or outbuilding. 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. For this reason many complaints have
been lodged against it, and some persons have gone so far as to condemn
the bird. The robin is, however, too valuable to be exterminated, and
choice fruit can be readily protected from its depredations.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Robin.]
An examination of 330 stomachs shows that over 42 per cent of its food is
animal matter, principally insects, while the remainder is made up largely
of small fruits or berries. Over 19 per cent consists of beetles, about
one-third of which are useful ground beetles, taken mostly in spring and
fall, when other insects are scarce. Grasshoppers makeup about one-tenth
of the whole food, but in August comprise over 30 per cent. Caterpillars
form about G per cent, while the rest of the animal food, about 7 per
cent, is made up of various insects, with a few spiders, snails, and
angle-worms. All the grasshoppers, caterpillars, and bugs, with in large
portion of the beetles, are injurious, and it is safe to say that noxious
insects comprise more than one-third of the robin's food.
Vegetable food forms nearly 58 per cent of the stomach contents, over 47
being wild fruits, and only a little more than 4 per cent being possibly
cultivated varieties. Cultivated fruit amounting to about 25 per cent was
found in the stomachs in June and July, but only a trifle in August. Wild
fruit, on the contrary, is eaten in every month, and constitutes a staple
food during half the year. No less than forty-one species were identified
in the stomachs of these, the most important were four species of dogwood,
three of wild cherries, three of wild grapes, four of greenbriar, two
of holly, two of elder; and cranberries, huckleberries, blueberries,
barberries, service berries, cranberries, and persimmons, with four
species of sumac, and various other seeds not strictly fruit.
The depredations of the robin seem to be confined to the smaller and
earlier fruits, and few, if any, complaints have been made against it
on the score of eating apples, peaches, pears, grapes, or even late
cherries. By the time these are ripe the forests and hedges are teeming
with wild fruits, which the bird evidently finds more to its taste. 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; and in some
cases the crop can be protected by scarecrows. 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, and, so far as observation has gone, most birds scorn to
prefer its fruit to any other. It is believed that a number of these trees
planted around the garden or orchard would fully protect the more valuable
fruits.
Many persons have written about the delicate discrimination of birds for
choice fruit, asserting that only the finest and costliest varieties are
selected. This is contrary to all careful scientific observation. Birds,
unlike human beings, seem to prefer fruit like the mulberry, that is
sweetly insipid, or that has some astringent or bitter quality like the
chokecherry or holly. The so-called black alder (_Ilex verticillata_),
which is a species of holly, has bright scarlet berries, as bitter as
quinine, that ripen late in October, and remain on the bushes through
November, and though frost grapes, the fruit of the Virginia creeper,
and several species of dogwood are abundant at the same time, the birds
eat the berries of the holly to a considerable extent, as shown by the
seeds found in the stomachs. It is moreover a remarkable fact that the
wild fruits upon which the birds feed largely are those which man neither
gathers for his own use nor adopts for cultivation.
THE BLUEBIRD.
(_Sialia sialis._)
The common and familiar bluebird (fig. 22) is an inhabitant of all the
States east of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf of Mexico northward into
Canada. It winters as far north as southern Illinois, in the Mississippi
Valley, and Pennsylvania in the east; in spring it is one of the first
migrants to arrive in the Northern States, and is always welcomed as an
indication of the final breaking up of winter. It frequents orchards and
gardens, where it builds its nest in hollow trees, or takes advantage of a
nesting box provided by the enterprising farmer's boy.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Bluebird.]
So far as known, this bird has not been accused of stealing fruit or of
preying upon any crops. An examination of 205 stomachs showed that 76 per
cent of the food consists of insects and their allies, while the other
24 per cent is made up of various vegetable substances, found mostly in
stomachs taken in winter. Beetles constitute 28 per cent of the whole
food, grasshoppers 22, caterpillars 11, and various insects, including
quite a number of spiders, comprise the remainder of the insect diet. All
these are more or less harmful, except a few predaceous beetles, which
amount to 8 per cent, but in view of the large consumption of grasshoppers
and caterpillars, we can at least condone this offense, if such it may be
called. The destruction of grasshoppers is very noticeable in the months
of August and September, when these insects form more than 60 per cent of
the diet.
It is evident that in the selection of its food the bluebird is governed
more by abundance than by choice. Predaceous beetles are eaten in spring,
as they are among the first insects to appear; but in early summer
caterpillars form an important part of the diet, and are replaced a
little later by grasshoppers. Beetles are eaten at all times, except when
grasshoppers are more easily obtained.
So far as its vegetable food is concerned, the bluebird is positively
harmless. The only trace of any useful product in the stomachs consisted
of a few blackberry seeds, and even these more probably belonged to wild
than cultivated varieties. Following is a list of the various seeds
which were found: Blackberry, chokeberry, juniperberry, pokeberry,
partridgeberry, greenbriar, Virginia creeper, bittersweet, holly,
strawberry bush, false spikenard, wild sarsaparilla, sumac (several
species), rose haws, sorrel, ragweed, grass, and asparagus. This list
shows how little the bluebird depends upon the farm or garden to supply
its needs, and indicates that by encouraging the growth of some of these
plants, many of which are highly ornamental, the bird can be induced to
make its home on the premises.
Bluebirds are so well known that it seems unnecessary to urge anything
more in their favor; but in view of the fact that large numbers were
destroyed during the severe storm of 1895, more than ordinary vigilance
should be exercised in protecting them until they have regained their
normal abundance.
* * * * *
Transcriber Note
Figures were moved so as to prevent splitting paragraphs. Hyphenation
was standardized to the most prevalent form used in the publication.
End of Project Gutenberg's USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 54, by F. E. L. Beal