358 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



June is the month when by far the largest number of 

 birds of all species are raising their young. It is the 

 month when insect life abounds, when the weather is 

 mild, when storms are few, the month, by all odds, the 

 most propitious for the birds to undertake to increase 

 their numbers. It is a niDuth, however, when probably 

 the largest number of birds are killed, should we take 

 into account all of the voung that meet an untimely 



VliSPEK SPARROWS NEST 



The nest and eggs of the vesper sparrow, showing another stage in the 

 nest-building instinct where the depression is well lined with 

 grasses. 



death, and tlic month when we should do everything we 

 can to reduce the numbers of their enemies. 



The maternal instinct, which knows not fear, brings 

 mail)- a mother bird into the claws of a marauding cat 

 or makes it an attractive target for the untrainefl boy or 

 the untutored foreigner with slingshot or gun. When 

 the young birds first leave the nest tliey are just learning 

 to fly and they perish by the hundreds from storms and 

 from scarcity of food. Hut chief among all the agents 

 of destruction is the stray cat and second we must put 

 the well-fed cat. Every cat is naturally a bird catcher 

 and those that are not sufficiently active to catch grown 

 birds find an easy prey in the newly fledged young. It 

 is during the early hours of the morning that most young 

 take their initial flight and it is at such times that the 

 cats go unrestrained. Every owner of a cat, every cat 

 lover, and every bird lover should see to it that during 

 this month, at least, cats willi ho.nes are kept intloors, 

 caged, or tethered and that every stray, ownerless cat 

 is captured and mercifully put out of the way. We can 

 do a great deal toward increasing our native birds by at- 

 tracting them to our gardens, with food, water and nest- 

 ing boxes, but unless we feel some resjionsibility toward 

 protecting them from this unnecessary and very danger- 

 ous enemy, the cat, it will not avail. 



RESOLUTIONS ON FORESTRY 



A' the conference of the Sixth National Conservation 

 Congress, in Washington, D. C, early in May, the 

 Forestry Committee presented the following reso- 

 lutions : 



Whereas. The conservation of our natural resources, 

 the perpetuation of our forests, the regulation of our 

 waters, and the (le\eloi)ment of agriculture are of vital 

 imjiortance fur the highest national efficiency, commer- 

 cial independence, and permanent prosperity to the 

 .\merican people, and are fundamental to true pre- 

 paredness, be it 



Rrsokrd, That it is the sense of this Congress that 

 public control of all of our natural resottrces by Nation, 

 State and comniunities should be extended; and 



ll'hcrcas, All the desirable influence of the forests in 

 the mountainous regions, especially water regulation, are 

 ])est conserved by public ownership, be it 



Ri'solz'eil. That the area of National, State, and com- 

 munal forests be extended to include ultimately all such 

 mountainous lands as are essential in the conservation of 

 water and are more suitable for timljer production than 

 agriculture. 



The Resolutions Committee of the conference recom- 

 mended the following resolutions : 



iriicreax. In this great nation the forests are being 

 consumed niucli iiKire rapidly than thev are growing, and 



U'licrcas, An aliundant supply of wood material is 

 essential to the continued jjrosperity and strength of the 

 nation whether at peace or at war, and 



U'licrcas, Under an act of Congress approved March 

 1. 1911, popularly known as "the Weeks Act," purchases 

 ha\e been made at the headwaters of navigable streams, 

 particularly in the White Mountains and Southern Appa- 

 lachians, with the \'iew to controlling the flood waters in 

 all iif the great ri\ers that rise within them, including 

 the head waters of the ( )hio Ri\er, therefore be it 



Rcsoli'cd. That the National Conservation Congress, 

 requests its members throughout the country to favor the 

 continuation of this policy without cessation, and urges 

 the Congress of the United States to reappropriate dur- 

 ing the present session the three million dollars for this, 

 purpose that were ap[)ropriated in I'.ill, Ijut which were 

 not used at that time. 



We reaffirm the principle heretofore enunciated by the 

 National Conservation Congress to the effect that as 

 Conservative forest management and reforestation by 

 pri\ate owners are very generally discouraged or pre- 

 vented ])y our methods of forest taxation, we recommend 

 state legislation to .secure the nvMl moderate taxation 

 of forest lands consistent with justice, and taxation of 

 the forest crop upon such lands only when the crop is. 

 harvested and returns revenue wherewith to jiay the. 

 taxes. 



