ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS TO THE STATE. I 29 



been damaged by the destructive field mice, can fail to realize on reading these 

 figures what a powerful ally he has in Owls. 



In the face of all these benefits conferred by birds as insect, seed, and mouse- 

 eaters, we perhaps can view more charitably the depredations of the Crows and 

 Blackbirds in our corn and grain fields. The tarring of corn proves an effective 

 means of making it unpalatable to Crows, but no such convenient means has been 

 discovered for protecting fields of grain from the ravages of the hordes of Black- 

 birds which are attracted to them by the bountiful supply of choice food they offer, 

 and in this instance man has so far disturbed nature's balance that the scales have 

 been turned against him, and the bird has become an enemy rather than a friend. 



The Bird and the Citizen. 



While, indirectly, the citizen of course shares in the services rendered by birds 

 to our agricultural interests, birds have an additional claim upon his good will. 

 Birds destroy many undesirable insects, mosquitoes, for example, some species of 

 which have recently been found to be so inimical to the health of the human race. 

 Birds further increase the healthfulness of the world by acting as scavengers. It 

 would be difficult to overestimate the value of the Buzzards, Vultures, and other 

 ofTal-eating birds to the countries in which they live. In most instances the eco- 

 nomic importance of these birds is too obvious to be overlooked, and they are, there- 

 fore, protected by law, and, by what is far more powerful than law, public sentiment. 



In our Southern States the Turkey Buzzard and Black Vulture, or " Carrion 

 Crow " have become so numerous and tame as a result of the protection there given 

 them that they walk around the streets of the towns and cities in great numbers, 

 and with no more evidence of fear than is shown by poultry. Every one realizes 

 that a living Buzzard is of infinitely more value than a dead one, and in many years' 

 experience in the South I have never seen a Buzzard molested. 



In New York, it is true, we have no Buzzard, but on the waters of our seacoast, 

 harbors, lakes and larger rivers, their place is taken by Gulls of several species, which, 

 in feeding on the forms of aquatic life which, in dying, come to the surface, perform 

 a sanitary service of the first importance. 



While a discussion of the economic relations of birds might be supposed to con- 

 fine us to a consideration of the material side of their lives, he would indeed be 

 lacking in imaginative power, in ability to appreciate the usefulness of beauty, who 

 did not find in these pre-eminently graceful, musical, attractive creatures a source 

 of pleasure to mankind deserving our serious attention from the physiologic, and 

 hence, economic standpoint. 



