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Show era generally will not cut out and paste in their scrap books. The English sparTow, by some people peo-ple thought to be of some account in destroying insects, is not a welcorao bird In California. In fact, Callforn-lans Callforn-lans have driven the sparrow out because be-cause It drove out the other birds and the other birds killed the insects. Mr. Morrlam said that so far as he knows there is not an English sparrow in southern California at the present time. He said that once In a white these birds kill an Insect, but they are generally of no particular account. Here is the way Merrlam explains the method of the English sparrow: ''Twenty-five years ago a natlvo robin could not light on our grounds at the department of agriculture or In the Smithsonlon grounds that a group of English sparrows did not Immediately gather around. They would not us ually attack the robin, but would sit around close to him and embarrass him, so that he would have to leae. Then he would fly Into a tree aad they would Immolate? fly after him and light around him, in the tree, and would make is so disagreeable for him that he would go somewhere else. St they broke up the nesting of many of of our native birds in the city park3 and along the streets, and in that manner drove them away." Mr. Merrlam went on to eay that tho English sparrow Is pretty good food and that It is sold In Washington under the name of reed bird, rice bird and under other names. GRASSHOPPERS AS HUMAN FOOD 'Birds and beasts" might be the title of a portion of the hearings before the committee on agriculture of the house of representatives. Mr. C. Hart Merriam chief of the bureau of biological survey; talked to the committee about the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. He gave that committee a lot of very valuable valu-able information. This Information has been contained In various reports and bulletins issued by the agricultural agricultur-al department from time to time dur-) dur-) ing the past year or more., but it was not In the condensed fornr adopted by Mr. Merriam. He wanted to tell the committee what the birds and beasts were doing on agricultural lands and in the forests of the United States. He wanted to tell them about the ! birds that protect the trees and fruits , from insects, and the destruction of : crops and farm products by animals. 1 And so he condensed volumes into two ' hours of talk. That members of tho committee were very much interested interest-ed in what Mr. Merrlam had to say ! was evident from the attention they ; gave him and also on account of tho questions they asked. ; Nearly all that he bad to say was Interesting, but the most striking features of his statement are summed i up in the following: This particular bureau studies the ' habits of birds in relation to agriculture agricul-ture from different points of view. That is. birds which go after insects, birds which cat different klnd6 of in-! in-! sects In different localities, the crops j affected and the areas inhabited by : different kinds of birds. It has been I found that 57 different varieties of ! birds feed upon the boll weevil, which ; at one time threatened the destruction j of the cotton crop. ' There are 57 spe-I spe-I cies of birds that feed on scale in- There was a long discussion about wolves and such animals and It appears ap-pears thnt tho forest service has done great work along this line, having destroyed de-stroyed 1,800 big wolves and 24,00i) coyotes' In the last year. This work Is estimated to have saved stock worth $2,000,000. The great rodent family, which Includes, In-cludes, rats, pralrlo dogs, ground squirrels, squir-rels, gophers and other animals tijt live under ground and prey upon tha crops, was discussed at considerable length, together with the methods of exterminating these animals Mr. Merrlam estimated that there are now 100.OOD.000 prairie dogs in the stat of Texas and that 35 dogs eat as much grass as one sheep, and 210 dogs eat as much as a steer on the range. He said that enough range gras6 Is eaten every year In Texas to support more than a million head of cattle and between be-tween five and six million sheep. The prairie dogs do not eat root products, but are very destine the to grass and alfalfa. In Breaking of prairie dogs, Mr. Merriam destroyed that tale ot fiction about rattlesnakes, burrowln; owls and prairie dogs all living in holes together. He says that the owls and snakes go in holes which ti dogs have deserted; but tho only time they go together is when the young dogs are surrounded by rattlesnakes. rat-tlesnakes. There was a long discussion on the question of whether the prairie uoa burrows down to water and how dee? he digs his hole aud the character of his home in the ground. Chairman Chair-man Seott was particularly anxious to get facts ou that subject and Merrlam gave him a great deol of detailed information, in-formation, the conclusion being that the prairie dog might go fifteen feet deep, but that he never digs " water. The idea has been that tn-J prairie dog lives so far from water In the arid regions that he must hav underground connections. In the case or nearly everv animal discussed Miriam Mi-riam was asked whether the unlmai Is good for food. He declared thai the squirrels and gophers are fain? Kood eating, but he did not have muca use for prairie dog. i sects which are eo destructive to mat trees In California. This reference to C7 varieties, ono against the boll weevil and the other against the scale Insects, ought to attract the advertising advertis-ing agents of n celebrated firm. The gypsy moth aau 8 different kinds of btrd enemies and tho brown-tall brown-tall moth 24 species. For a long time it was believed that these moths were going to destroy the fruit and shade trees of New England. There are more than 4C0 different kinds of birds that fcod on grasshoppers. At one time grasshoppers were very destructive de-structive to the crops of the west. Speaking of grasshoppers. Mr.' Mer-ram Mer-ram remarked that Trof. Wiley, the food expert, haa recommended that they should be used as food by white people. Already they are eaten by the Indian tribes in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada. Chairman Scott or the committee ask-od ask-od Mr. Merrlum how tho grasshoppers grasshop-pers are prepared when they are used as food, and Mr. Merrlam replied: re-plied: "Usually they are roasted a little and pounded up Into a meal, wliich is usually mixed with pine-nut pine-nut meal or acorn meal and made into cakes or bread, or put into soups i or mushes." 1 This is a recipe which housekeep- |