Our bird friends

Title

Our bird friends

Language

English

Source

The Young Citizen 5 (5) May 1939

Year

1939

Subject

Birds

Bird behavior

Shrikes

Swallows (Birds)

Herons

Cuckoos

Woodpeckers

Pigeons

Owls

Bitterns

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

May, 19$9 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 177 Our Bird Friends WE all like the birds because they sing sweet songs or have beautiful plumage. But we should like many of the birds for another reason. Birds help us very much in the control of insect pests. Examination of the contents of the stomachs of many kinds of birds has shown that they live to a great extent on an insect diet. TherefQre we 'should hesitate in destroying our feathered friends. Most birds which are common about the i~rm eat great quantities of seeds of weeds in addition to insects, and that is another reasor1 why we should protect birds. What a friend to man is the bird! He does not ask payme.nt for his services. He does not even ask for thanks. Just leave him alone and he will work for you. He will sing for you, or show you a pattern of beautiful color, or delight you with ways which are most interesting. It has been said that birds eat the farmer's grain or fruits. Perhaps they do to some extent, hut the harm which the birds do is small in comparison with the benefits we derive from them. The study of birds is interesting, and will well repay any boy or girl who takes up such a study. It is interesting to learn the characteristics of various species of birds. For example, the owl is a good hunter; the woodpecker is a· good carpenter; the parrot is a good climber; the oriole is a sweet singer; 1, Shrike z.. 5wollow 3. HeT'on 4.Cuc"koo 5. Woodp«c"kel" 6. Dove 7. Owl 6. BitteT'T\. the kingfisher is a skillful fisherman; the robin is a hard worker; and so on. You will find illustrated on this page variou3 kinds of birds, all of which are found in the Philippines. No. 1 is the shrike, someiimes called the butcher bird, which is •aid to kill other birds and hanir their bodies on thorns. No. 2 is the swallow, noted for its graceful flight. No. 3 is the heron, one specie£ of which is the friend of the carabao. (Plea.se tiwn to page 182.) 182 THE YOUNG CITIZEN OUR BIRD FRIENDS Heron, Eastern purple-Kan(Continued fJ"cm F!fe 1'17) dang ajok No. 4, the cuckoo, gets its Hercn, Javan green-Bacaw name from its call. No. 5, the itim wocdpec!:er, has a strong bill Heron, night-Bacaw gabi which can drill holes in trees Kingfisher, Asiatic-Susulbot or boards. The beautiful · Kingfisher, white-c-ollal-ed - dove, illustrated in No. 6, is Kasay-kasay a member of the family of pi- Mallard, Philippine - Dumageons. No. 7, the owl, is a ras, patong bundok bird of prey, and is distin- Moorhen-Uloc g-uished by its large head and Nightjar, Philippine earedeyes, short, hooked bill, strong Kandar.apa talons, and 0more or less noc- Owl, gra::;s-Kuagong talahib turnal habits. The bittern, Owl, Philippine-Kuliawan shovm in No. 8, belongs to the Parakeet, Luzon hanging - heron family. Colasisi · A List of Philippine Birds Pigeon, Bonaparte's imperial The following list of Philip- -Balud pine birds is not complete, but Pigeon, Philippine greeninclud-es the names in English Punay and· one of the Philippille dia- Rall, Philippine~Ticling kilalects of most of the birds to yan be found in the Islands: Robin, Philippine magpie-Bittern, cinnamon - Bacaw Dominico .canela Shrike, large-nosed-Tarat Bluebird, chestnut-headed - Shrike, Philippine red-tailed Peiik-peiik -Cabezote Chat, pied-Sipao, tererekoy Shrike, white-bellied swallow Crake, Philippine ashy-Tica, -Pagatpat m'.3.tang bayani Snipe, painted-Pakubo Cuckoo, rough-crested _ Ma- Snipe, Suinhoe's - Kanduro, nok manukan p.agitla Cuckoo, rufous-bellied-Ibong Sparrow, Malayan grey-Mamay sakit yang costa Curlew, Asiatic-Balankaui- Sparrow, tree-Mayang bato tan Starling, Chinese-Martinez Dove, Dussumier's turtle- Sunbird, yellow-breasted - Bato bato de collar Tamsi Duck, tufted-Patong bundok Swallow, Asi11tic-Layang-laEgret, ca ttle-Tagac yang Finch-Maya Tai!orbird, Derbuy's - Pepit Fly-catcher, black-naped manailahi Pitpit azul. 'Warbler, Northern willowF'ly-catcher, guava-Luklac Pitpit Fowl, red jungle-Labuyo Warbler, striated marsh-SuGallinule, Philippine blue- nod kalabao Acbag \Veaver, Luzon brown-MaMr1y, 1989 HUNTING BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS (Continued from page 176) painless a w.ay · as possible. Speed is necessary; o.therwise the delicate scaling of the \Vings is injured as the butterfly struggles in the killingLottle before it is overcome by the gas. Various kinds of moths are f!.lso desired by collectors, especially the large Atlas moths, somE oi which have a wing spread of almost a foot. In the Philippines giant moths are found ill N egros ·and other· islands. Moths a r e distinguished from butterflies by their feathered feelers, by their wings being horizontal when resting, and by their flying usually at night. One of the most remarkable things about butterflies is their series of change$ before Lecoming butterflies. The female butterfly lays many eggs whkh produce caterpillars. After a short time they take a new shape and bec_ome chrysalids. Within its covering the insect dev~lops, and comes out as an active and beautiful butterfly. In the illustration on page 176, Figure 1 is a picture of the butterfly, Figure 2 is a picture of the caterpillar, and Figure 3 is a picture of the chrysali•.-Adapted from Panoran·1a. yang poking Weaver, Philippine-Mayang pula Woodpecker, large-billed pygmy-Kalpinterong maliit

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