27 



The Birds 



Class Aves 



Birds are an important and highly beneficial class of vertebrates so 

 far as man is concerned. No music is more sweet than that of our song- 

 birds singing in the trees. Their beautiful coloration has an esthetic ap- 

 peal unequaled among living things ; they show many brilliant hues, but 

 never do you see a lack of harmony as may sometimes be found in man- 

 made combinations. Some of them have been domesticated and con- 

 tentedly lay egg after egg for human consumption. Their bodies make 

 delicious eating; the mere mention of southern fried chicken is enough 

 to make nearly anyone's mouth water. Game birds challenge many 

 sportsmen, who get recreation in hunting. Birds feed on many harmful 

 insects and eat seeds of harmful weeds ; it is doubtful if man could grow 

 crops at all if the birds did not give this valuable assistance. 



Wherever birds congregate in large numbers there may be built up a 

 great deposit of feces from their bodies which is collected and sold com- 

 mercially as guano, one of the richest natural fertilizers known. There 

 are islands off the coast of Peru, frequented by water birds, where de- 

 posits more than one hundred feet deep have been found. They deposit 

 750 tons per acre per year. 



Some of our birds help to get rid of dead animals by acting as scav- 

 engers. These are the vultures or buzzards that glide high in the air 

 scanning the ground for signs of a dead animal on which they may feast. 

 No animal body seems repulsive to them even though it is in an advanced 

 state of decomposition. 



We could not conclude a listing of beneficial attributes of the birds 

 without mentioning the use of their feathers as costume decorations. A 

 generation or so ago, ladies' feather-trimmed hats were the rage. Fortu- 

 nately, the styles changed, or many beautiful birds might have become 

 extinct, for many were killed for their feathers. Ostrich plumes are still 

 used extensively, but these are painlessly clipped from domesticated 

 birds, so there is no harm done. 



Of course, all the birds are not beneficial. There are some that eat 

 quite a bit of grain or tender shoots of growing plants and thus do harm. 



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