ng to _do_ about this
matter? What he should do is to write and urge his members of Congress
to work for and vote for the federal migratory bird bill.

THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL.--Let us take one other concrete case. The cotton
boll weevil invaded the United States from Mexico in 1894. Ten years
later it was costing the cotton planters an annual loss estimated at
fifteen million dollars per year. Later on that loss was estimated at
twenty million dollars. The cotton boll weevil strikes at the heart of
the industry by destroying the boll of the cotton plant. While the total
loss never can be definitely ascertained, we know that it has amounted
to many millions of dollars. The figure given above has been widely
quoted, and so far as I am aware, never disputed.

Fortunately we have at hand a government publication on this subject
which gives some pertinent facts regarding the bird enemies of the
cotton boll weevil. It is Circular No. 57 of the Biological Survey,
Department of Agriculture. Any one can obtain it by addressing that
Department. I quote the most important portions of this valuable
document:

* * * * *

BIRDS USEFUL IN THE WAR AGAINST THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL.

By H.W. Henshaw, Chief of the Biological Survey.

The main purpose of this circular is to direct the attention of cotton
growers and others in the cotton growing states to the importance of
birds in the boll weevil war, to emphasize the need of protection for
them, and to suggest means to increase the numbers and extend the range
of certain of the more important kinds.

Investigations by the Biological Survey show that thirty-eight species
of birds eat boll weevils. While some eat them only sparingly others eat
them freely, and no fewer than forty-seven adult weevils have been found
in the stomach of a single cliff swallow. Of the birds known at the
present time to feed on the weevil, among the most important are the
orioles, nighthawks, and, foremost of all, the swallows (including the
purple martin).

ORIOLES.--Six kinds of orioles live in Texas, though but two inhabit the
southern states generally. Orioles are among the few birds that evince a
decided preference for weevils, and as they persistently hunt for the
insects on the bolls, they fill a place occupied by no other birds. They
are protected by law in nearly every state in the Union, but their
bright plumage renders them among the most salable of birds for