An Introduction to Entomology by William Kirby

Author:William Kirby [Kirby, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Life Sciences, Science, Entomology, Zoology
ISBN: 9783749428373
Google: JsWKDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Books on Demand
Published: 2019-02-28T21:36:07.759325+00:00

One of the most important ends for which insects were gifted with such powers of multiplication, giving birth to myriads of myriads of individuals, was to furnish the feathered part of the creation with a sufficient supply of food. The number of birds that derive the whole or a principal part of their subsistence from insects is, as is universally known, very great, and includes species of almost every order.

Amongst the Accipitres the kestril ( Falco Tinnunculus , L.) devours abundance of insects. A friend of mine, upon opening one found its stomach full of the remains of grasshoppers and beetles, particularly the former, which he suspects constitute great part of the food of this species. One of the shrikes, also, or butcher-birds ( Lanius Collurio )—and it is probable that other species of this numerous genus may have the same habits—is known to feed upon insects, which it first impales alive on the thorns of the sloe and other spinous plants, and then devours. If meat be given it, when kept in a cage, it will fix it upon the wires before it eats it. Lanius Excubitor also impales insects, but Heckewelder denies that it feeds upon them. If he be correct, the object of this singular procedure with that species, may be to allure the birds, which it preys upon, to a particular spot [519] .

Amongst the Picæ or Pies the Crotophaga , called the Ani, which is a native of Africa and America, lives upon the locust and Ixodes Ricinus , which it picks in great numbers from the backs of cattle; but none are greater devourers of insects in this order than rooks. It is for the grubs of Melolontha , Tipula , &c., that they follow the plough; and they always frequent the meadows in which these larvæ abound, destroying them in vast numbers. Kalm tells us, that when the little crow was extirpated from Virginia at an enormous expense, the inhabitants would willingly have brought them back again at double the price [520] . The icteric oriole is kept by the Americans in their houses for the sake of clearing them of insects; and the purple grackle is so useful in this respect, that when, on account of their consuming grain, the American farmers in New England offered a reward of threepence a head for them, and they were in consequence nearly extirpated, insects increased to such a degree as to cause a total loss of the herbage, and the inhabitants were obliged to obtain hay for their cattle not only from Pennsylvania but even from Great Britain [521] . Of this order also is the bee-cuckoo ( Cuculus Indicator ) so celebrated for its instinct, by which it serves as a guide to the wild bees' nests in Africa. Sparrman describes this bird, which is somewhat larger than a common sparrow, as giving this information in a singular manner. In the evening and morning, which are its meal-times, it excites the attention of

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