ither can they be termed injurious on account of what they eat.

The Gulls, provided as they are with long wings and great powers for
flight, are not confined to the seacoast, hence they reach far inland
in their migrations, feeding extensively upon insects like locusts,
June-beetles, crickets, etc., large numbers of which they destroy
annually. Several kinds of these birds are known to follow the plough
and pick up the white grubs and other insects that are turned up and
laid bare. In early days, when grasshoppers did much harm in this
state, numerous flocks of these birds were seen to feed upon these
insects.

The Cormorants and Pelicans are chiefly destroyers of fishes and
frogs, hence can hardly be classed among the most beneficial forms;
but whether or not they do any more than to maintain the necessary
equilibrium in that particular part of the vast field of nature it is
difficult to judge without time for investigation.

The various Ducks and Geese which are also nearly as aquatic in their
habits as some of the foregoing, frequently leave their haunts and
make excursions into the surrounding country where in summer they feed
upon locusts, beetles, and other injurious insects. They also partake
of considerable quantities of vegetable food, as grains, weed seeds,
grasses, and other herbage. While not included among the insectivorous
forms these birds do much towards diminishing the ever increasing
horde of creeping and jumping things. Ducks and geese on the other
hand are largely utilized by us as food: while their feathers make
comfortable pillows and coverlets.

The Herons, Cranes, and Rails are frequenters of marshes and the
margins of streams and bodies of water, where they assist in keeping
the various forms among the animal life balanced. Fishes, frogs,
snails, insects, and crustaceans are alike devoured by them.

The Snipe, Sandpipers, Plovers, Phalaropes, Curlews, etc., are great
destroyers of insects. Moving as many of them do in great flocks and
spreading out over the meadows, pastures, and hillsides, as well as
among the cultivated fields, they do a large amount of careful police
service in arresting the culprits among insects. They even pry them
out of burrows and crevices in the earth where these creatures lurk
during daytime only to come forth after nightfall to destroy
vegetation. The large flocks of Eskimo Curlews that formerly passed
through eastern Nebraska did magnificent work during years w