History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

HISTORY OF SAGfiNAW COUNTY.

279

row; they have their uses; but it is likely that when the people
realize the importance of the destruction of the imported sparrow,
the whole family will fall with that branch.
Family Icteridae.-The bobolink, cow-bird, red-winged blackbird, meadow lark, rusty grackle, crow black-bird, Baltimore and
orchard orioles belong to this family. The cow-bird destroys the
eggs and young of stranger birds. The oriole feeds on hairy caterpillars during the season of breeding; this bird is of service in the
orchard, and for this service she accepts the first small fruits and
other luxuries of the garden. The other members of the family
may be termed gregarious; they feed on the seeds of weeds, oats,
wheat, corn, and on flies and insects.
The Tyrannidae Family subsist almost altogether on flies,which
they pursue and capture in the most open places. The pewee
and king-bird pursue their victims in the light of day, and even
should it escape for a time, it eventually falls before the lance of
its pursuer. The family comprises the king-bird, wood pewee,
phoebe bird, together with a half-dozen fly-catchers, variously
named.
The Caprimulgidae Family comprises the whippoorwill, or Antrostomus vociferus, which is a common summer resident here,
and the night-hawk, another well-known summer bird. They are
given to "jay-hawking," and select the night for seeking their
prey. Then thousands of grasshoppers, moths, beetles, winged
insects and flies become their prey. The chimney swallow captures its prey upon the wing in a similar manner; but it belongs
to the Cypselidae family.
The Alcedinidae.-The only representative of this family in the
county is said to be the belted king-fisher, which comes here in
summer to spend the fishing season. If it does not at once succeed
in catching one of the finny tribe, it is capable of abstaining until
success crowns its efforts.
The Trochilidae.-This family is well represented here by the
humming-bird. This is an animated cluster of emeralds and
rubies, which comes to delight the people in May, and continues
with them until September.
Cuculidae. —The only member of the Ouculidoe residing here during the summer months is the black-billed cuckoo, which comes
to visit the woods and orchards of the State in the middle of June,
and remains until harvest time.
The Picidae Family, as represented here, is composed of seven
species of woodpecker, known as the downy, the hairy, the Arctic black-back, the yellow-bellied, red-bellied, red-headed, and
golden-winged. The family subsist on timber insects, fruit,
berries and green corn. The yellow-bellied woodpecker is very
destructiveto apple trees; he sucks the sap oftreesin some parts
of the Union, but owing to the length of winter in Northwestern
Michigan, he has no time to do much mischief here.
The Strigidae Family comprises the barn owl, great horned owl,
long-eared owl, short-eared owl, snow owl, hawk owl, sparrow owl,