Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 174, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1916 — Common American Birds [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Common American Birds

Interesting Infor* mation about them supplied by the Bureau of Biological Survey of the United States □Department of

’ Arkansas Kingbird Tyrannus vertically Length, nine inches. The white edge of the feather on eacfi side of the tail distinguishes this from all other flycatchers except the gray and sal-mon-colored sclssortail of Texas. Range: Breads from Minnesota, Kansas, and Texas to the Pacific ocean and from northern Mexico to southern Canada; winters from Mexico to Guatemala. Habits and economic status: The Arkansas kingbird is not so domestic as its eastern relative and seems to prefer the hill country with scattered oaks rather than the orchard or the vicinity of ranch buildings, but it sometimes places its rude and conspicuous nest in trees on village streets. The bird’s yearly food is composed of 87 per cent animal matter and 13 per cent vegetable. The animal food is composed almost entirely of insects. Like the eastern species. It has been, accused of destroying honeybees to a harmful extent, and re- ♦

mains of honeybees were found to constitute five per cent of the food of the Individuals examined, but nearly all those eaten were drones. Bees and wasps, In general, are the biggest Item of food (38 per cent), grasshoppers and crickets stand next (20 per cent), and beetles, mostly of noxious species, constitute 14 per cent of the food. The vegetable food consists mostly of fruit, such as the and other berries, with a few seeds. This bird should be strictly preserved.

Blue Jay Cyanocltta cristata Length, eleven and one-half inches. The brilliant blue of the wings and tall combined with the black crescent of the upper breast and the crested head distinguish this species. Range: Resident in the eastern United States and southern Canada, west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and Texas. Habits and economic status: The blue jay is of a dual nature. Cautious and silent In the vicinity of its nest, away from It it is bold and noisy. Sly in the commission of mischief, it is ever ready to scream “thief* at the slightest disturbance. As usual in such cases, its remarks are applicable to none more than Itself, a fact neighboring nest holders know to their sorrow, for during the breeding season the jay lays heavy toll upon the eggs and ypung of other birds, and in doing so deprives us of the services of species more beneficial than itself. Approximately threefourths of the annual food of the blue jay is vegetable matter, the greater part of which is composed of mast, L e., acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, and

the like. Corn is the principal cultivated crop upon which this bird feeds, but stomach analysis indicates that most of the corn taken is waste grain. Such noxious insects as wood-boring beetles, grasshoppers, eggs of various caterpillars, and scale Insects constitute about one-fifth of its food.

Chickadee Penethrestes articapillus . Length, about five and one-fourth Inches. Range: Resident in the United States (except the southern half east of the plains), Canada, and Alaska. Habits and economic status: Because of its delightful notes, its coniflding ways, and its fearlessness, the chickadee is one of our best known frird*- It responds to encouragement.

and by hanging within Its reach a constant supply of suet the chickadee can be made a regular visitor to the garden and orchard. Though insignificant tn size, titmice are far from being so from the economic standpoint, owing to their numbers and activity. While one locality Is being scrutinized for food by a larger bird*

ten are being searched by the smaller species. The chickadee’s food is made up of insects and vegetable matter in the proportion of seven of the former to three of the latter. Moths and caterpillars are favorites and, form about one-third of the whole. Beetles, ants, wasps, bugs, flies, grasshoppers, and spiders make up the rest. The vegetable food is composed of seeds, largely those of pines, with a few of the poison ivy and some weeds. There are few more useful birds than the chickadees.

Song Sparrow Melosplza melodla Length, about six and one-fourth. Inches. The heavily spotted breast wth heavy central blotch is characteristic. Range: Breeds in the United States (except the South Atlantic and gulf states), southern Canada, southern, Alaska, and Mexico; winters in Alaska and most of the United States southward. Habits and economic status: Like the familiar little “chippy” the song sparrow is one of our most domestic species, and builds its nest in hedges

or in garden shrubbery close 'to houses, whenever it is reasonably safe from the house cat, which, however, takes heavy toll of the nestings. It la a true harbinger of spring, and its de* lightful little song is trilled forth from the top of some green shrub in early March and April, before most of out other songsters have of leav« Ing the sunny South. Song sparrow* vary much in habits, as well as in size and coloration. Some forms live along streams bordered by deserts, others fa* timbered regions, others on rocky barren hillsides, and still others in rich, fertile valleys. With such a variety of habitat, the food of the species naturally varies considerably. About three-fourths of its diet consists of the seeds of noxious weeds and onefourth of insects. Of these, beetles, especially weevils, constitute the major portion. Ants, wasps, bugs (including the black olive scale), and caterpillars are also eaten. Grasshoppers are taken by the eastern bird*, but not by the western ones.