Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Many of us have heard the cuckoo, but fewer of us have seen it. It is very shy and retiring in nature, and generally all that can be seen of it in the woods is a glimpse of a brown bird darting quickly and silently away. Cuckoos are great worm eaters, hunting in the cool of the morning and afternoon for all kinds of worms that eat up the leaves of trees and shrubs. A single cuckoo has been known to eat as many as 500 army worms in a day. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO Night Hawk, or Bull Bat. This is not a true hawk or bat, but is closely related to the chimney swift. At about sunset in the spring and summer, one can see the night hawk flying lightly over the fields, darting back and forth. At times, it soars high in the air, then suddenly turns and dashes headforemost to the earth, only to turn again and rise just before the ground is reached, with a rushing, booming sound. Its flight is somewhat like that of NIGHT HAWK, OR BULL BAT the leather-winged bat, for which it may be mistaken, although it is larger. The zigzag flying is due to the chasing of insects by the hawk. It spends the night in catching those insects which we do not see during the daytime. These birds save so much damage to crops, by their destruction of insects, that they should never be indiscriminately shot. Orchard Oriole. Swinging in a nest in the fig or the orange tree we may find four or five brown orioles that open their yellow mouths the minute we touch the nest. These are the young of the orchard oriole, and, if we watch for a while, we may see the mother and father birds come back with worms or butterflies or moths, to feed their hungry babies These birds spend all of their time in and about the orchard looking for insects, which are doing damage to the fruit. Sparrow Hawk. ORCHARD ORIOLE This is the smallest of our hawks and is often seen flying over the meadows or even over house lots. SPARROW HAWK But we need not fear for our chickens or young turkeys, for, although it is a true hawk, it very seldom takes the liberty to carry off any kind of poultry. As it flies close to the ground, it is ever on the lookout for grasshoppers; or as it sits on the fence post, it watches for a mouse to make its appearance. Nearly one fourth of the food of this hawk consists of mice, and over seven tenths of its food consists of grasshoppers and other insects. Barn Owl. Sometimes a farmer misses a chicken at night and can find no traces of it, but later finds a few of the feathers way off in the woods. Probably the barn owl has played the thief; but let us not think that because he has taken one chicken the owl is to be hunted and killed. On the contrary, it should be encouraged to stay around. For every chicken that the owl may take, it kills many rats and mice; and these, if they were not killed, would do far more damage than the value of the chicken. It is estimated that a rat will do damage to the extent of 50 or 60 cents a year, and that a weasel may do as much as $5 worth of dam BARN OWL age. Each one of these owls kills hundreds of mice, rats, and weasels every year, so that it fully repays for any chickens or poultry that it may take. Sharp-shinned Hawk. This and its cousin, the Cooper's hawk, rightly deserve to be called "chicken" or "hen "hawks. We must not confuse them with the sparrow hawks. They are a little larger and of a grayish color, streaked and blotched with white. They are very brave and daring and extremely active on the wing. We should learn to know them and be able to distinguish them anywhere so that they may be killed. If they cannot find any chickens or young quail to feast on, they will catch any small bird that may happen to come across their path. Not more than one twentieth of their food consists of mice and rats, while three fourths of it consists of poultry, game, and other birds. These are among the few birds that really do far more harm than good, and so must be considered as among the farmer's enemies. Screech Owl. What has been said of the barn owl may be said of the screech owl, for they are cousins, and have the same habits. This owl is, however, smaller, and so does not kill so many rats or weasels; but to make up, it probably destroys many more mice. It will not take a full-grown fowl, but will occasionally help itself to a small chicken. 1. If two parent wrens eat 50 worms in a day apiece and feed their five young 30 worms a day apiece, how many worms will it take to feed that wren family? 2. If a field mouse causes a farmer a loss of 2 cents a year, how many dollars' worth of damage will 1500 mice do? SCREECH OWL 3. If each hawk or owl kills 1100 mice a year and each mouse causes a loss of 12 cents a year to the farm, how many dollars will each hawk or owl save the farm? 4. If a marsh hawk saves the farmer $20 a year by killing rats and mice, and he steals 3 chiokens during that time, worth 25 cents each, what is the actual value of the hawk? 5. A sharp-shinned hawk kills in a year 500 mice, which cause a damage of 2 cents each; and also 300 quail and partridge chickens valued at 15 cents each. Is the hawk beneficial or detrimental, and by how much? 6. It is estimated that insects damage farm crops to the amount of about 50 cents per acre each year. How much would this amount to for your county? 7. If wild birds average 1800 to the square mile, how many would this be for your county or parish? 8. If each bird eats, on the average, 50 insects a day, how many insects would the birds of your county destroy in the summer months? 9. Supposing that 100,000 insects would equal 1 bu. of insects, how many bushels of insects would these birds destroy in your county in one month? 10. The winter birds eat chiefly grass and weed seeds. If they average 2 birds to the acre, and each eats oz. of seed per day, how many pounds of seed would the birds eat in 150 days from one square mile of your county? 11. If 500 grasshoppers will eat one pound of grass or other crops in a day, how many meadow larks will it require to save a ton of crop in 10 days, if each bird destroys 250 grasshoppers in a day? sects. 12. Quail are especially useful in destroying harmful inIt is estimated that a pair of these birds is worth $5 per annum on a farm. If this pair succeeds in raising a brood of 18 young quail, what will be the value of the covey next year? DAIRYING Dairying can be made very profitable. There is no profit in keeping a cow that gives less than 300 lb. of butter a year. Such animals should be sold for beef. A good separator is a necessity if as many as four cows are kept. Stables for cows should be dry, warm in winter, and well ventilated. Special provision should be made for saving every particle of fertilizer for use on the farm. Feed schedules should be studied carefully with a view to forcing the cow to give the largest possible quantity of butter without taking on too much fat. |