Swallows live entirely upon insects, and a very large proportion of the
food of most of our birds is made up of insect life. Thirty-eight kinds
of birds have been seen to feed on some form of the gypsy moth, and they
are not expecting the salaries that are paid to government agents. The
sea-gull is another official on a small salary. He is the best health-
inspector of our coasts, for he not only sees what is to be done, but
does it himself, promptly and well. The little tree-sparrow, in Iowa
alone, destroys more than a million harmful seeds every year.
Sometimes, it is true, the birds eat the fruits that men have taken
pains to raise. "What little thieves they are!" says the gardener.
"Please tell me," says Mr. Robin, "how I am to know that you care so
much for some kinds of fruit, and so little for others? If you would
plant shad-berries for me, I would not eat so many strawberries. In
September I should be quite willing to make a dinner of choke-cherries,
if they were as conveniently near as your grapes. Perhaps, in time, you
will learn to be more careful in your planting. Why not protect your
fruits by planting wild varieties that we like?"
Mr. Lawrence Bruner says: "If we take pains to water our birds during
the dry season, they will be much less apt to seek this supply from the
juices of fruits so temptingly at hand.
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