By Jiminy, Crickets Return

Re “A Carpet of Crickets in the West,” June 29: The problem this summer with crickets in the area east of my home in Shasta County may be caused by a decimation of the native bird population. The birds that should be keeping control of these insects are mostly gone from my area. People who move into the affected areas live in very new building tracts where native species of trees have been removed by builders; the native species are replaced by spindly young trees that cannot support nests.

Another problem is the indiscriminate use of insecticides by farmers seeking a short-term fix to harvest a current crop. Too often they cause the deaths of insect-eating birds ingesting the poisoned bugs. We should keep our native tree species, and homeowners should encourage the birds to nest by putting out feeders.

If all else fails, I recommend that, like me, they get bantam chickens to keep crickets and grasshoppers at bay.

Richard Sperrico

Bella Vista, Calif.

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Your article about the infestation of Mormon crickets prompted my 87-year-old father to tell me about another, earlier infestation. He remembered this event from when he was a young child in Pocatello, Idaho, and the town took matters into its own hands. All the townspeople turned out with garbage can lids, sticks, shovels, brooms, anything they could bring to wave and make noise.

As a group, they herded the crickets through the streets and yards and down to the Portneuf River. At the river’s edge they chased the crickets into the water, and then people dowsed the river with kerosene and set it ablaze.

Carina Lister

Long Beach

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Your story on crickets brought to mind a 1933 book that has recently been reissued, “The Journey of the Flame.” The 100-year-old man tells of his journey in the 18th century, when he was 12, from the tip of Baja to the missions of California. The Indians, he relates, rejoiced in the years when the locusts came.

They didn’t grow crops, but they gathered the insects, dried them, roasted them and ate them. I doubt if such a diet would appeal to many people today (although a few of the more adventurous might try it), but how about as feed for livestock?

That sounds better than some of the things we presently feed them and is certainly better than poisoning the environment with pesticides.

Elaine Hamilton

South Pasadena