OCR Text |
Show SAVE MONEY FOR FARMERS Direct Testimony Showing That ths Woodpecker Should Be Protected , by All Agriculturists. , We are assured on high authority that if birds were as numerous today as they were 60 years ago it woulq mean a saving of many million dollars to American farmers. The slaughtel of migratory birds is surely followed by the increase of destructive insects, Among the farmer's bird friends arq the woodpeckers, especially the redi headed members of the species. In proof there is cited the following instance: A pair of them nested in a dead Cottonwood tree near an orchard. One day the observer watched them through a pair of glasses. The young birds were about half grown. The parents made 96 trips In one hour, each time with a worm. It Is safe to say that they saved 96 apples In that hour a box worth, say $1. If the birds worked ten hours a day, they were worth $10 to the owner of that orchard, or, In the three weeks the birds were in the net $210. It is plain, then, that no farmer can afford to kill a woodpecker. |