This book was written by ​​Ellenborough Lascelles Beal, an American pioneer of economic ornithology. In the following pages are discussed the food habits of more than 50 birds belonging to 12 families. Many are eastern forms which are represented in the West by slightly different species or subspecies, but unless the food habits differ they are not separately described. In some cases specific percentages of food are given, but for the most part the statements are made without direct reference to the data on which they are based.

"From a purely practical point of view the most important of the relations of native birds to man are the economic. The esthetic value of birds is great -- greater, indeed, than that of any other group of animals; and that this is a real and especially a treasured value is not to be denied. But it is in their relation to insect and other enemies of crops that birds are most directly associated with the welfare of mankind, and their value in this particular should be made as widely known as possible. This bulletin is one of a series designed to assist in doing this. Not all birds are beneficial and all facts tending to show in which class each species belongs will be set forth. the useful kinds far outnumber the injurious, however, and so great is their value as insect destroyers in the United States that to them may be given the credit of being on e of the greatest controlling factors in limiting the development of insect pests and in preventing many disastrous outbreaks. In the following pages are discussed the habitat, food habits, a nd relation to agriculture of more than 50 species of birds common to farming sections."--Page 2