Excerpt from Arboriculture, Vol. 5: January, 1906 We have already seen that these insect pests are found everywhere doing their destructive work. It is also true that we have the birds everywhere to hold these insect pests in check and destroy them. As Mr. Frank M. Chapman, who perhaps is our most distinguished living ornithologist, has well said: In the air, swai lows and swifts are coursing to and fro, ever in pursuit of.the insects which constitute their sole food. When they retire, the night-hawks and whip - poor-wills take up the chase, catching moths and other nocturnal insects which would escape day-flying birds. The fly - catchers lie in wait, darting from ambush at passing prey, and with a suggestive click of the bill returning to their post. The warblers, light, active crea tures, flutter about the terminal foliage, and with almost the skill of a hummingbird peck insects from leaf or blossom. The vireos pa tiently explore the under sides of leaves and odd nooks and corners to see that no skulker escapes. The woodpeckers, nut-hatches and creepers attend to the tree trunks and limbs. Examining carefully each inch of bark for in sects, eggs and larvae, or excavating for the ants and borers they hear at work within. On the ground the hunt is continued by the thrushes, sparrows and other birds, who feed upon the innumerable forms of terrestrial insects. Few places in which insects exist are neglected; even some species which pass their earlier stages or entire lives in the water are preyed upon by aquatic birds. The third class of destructive pests to be con sidered are the rodents. These belong to the large order of animals having two large incisor teeth in each jaw, separated from the molar teeth by an empty space, and are gnawing ani mals. Rats, mice, woodchucks, rabbits, musk rats and beavers belong to this order'. Every well-informed person knows how rapidly these animals increase, and how destructive they are to vegetation. In Australia the progeny of a few pairs of imported rabbits have overrun the country, its vegetation has been threatened with utter destruction, and millions of dollars have been spent on an effort to get rid of the pest, and the warfare yet goes on. In this country, if not kept in check, they are among our most destructive pests, and especially is this so in our vineyards and orchards, where they do so much damage in girdling our vines and trees. Rats and mice are equally destructive. Owls, hawks and shrikes are our most effective aids in de stroying these pests and keeping them in check. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.