160 BuKEAu OF Farmees' Institutes. 



It should not be over-looked by the young observer that if he 

 ■would learn to recognize at once any particular bird, he should 

 make himself acquainted with the song and call notes of every 

 bird around him. 



Many birds bear names given them by their own peculiar cry. 

 Listen: "See-see Dick, Dick, cissel cissel. You call me the little 

 meadow lark, while all the time I am trying to tell you as plainly 

 as I can what my name is; to tell the truth I don't belong to the 

 lark family at all. Simply because I wear a yellow vest and a 

 black bow at my throat does not make me a lark. You can't judge 

 birds any more than you can people by their clothes. No, I be- 

 long to the finch or bunting family, but I am called the Dick 

 cissel." 



Who is that little fellow we may see frequenting the wood 

 land when it is not too wet, his note is about the only one heard 

 at noonday, during mid-summer. " Teacher, teacher, teacher, 

 teacher, teacher," is it some child-voice calling his teacher. No, it 

 is a species of thrush, commonly called the " Teacher bird." It 

 is also known as the oven bird, the name being derived from its 

 peculiar nest which is fashioned like an oven. 



The preceding may be considered the sentimental part of bird 

 life; we will endeavor to speak of something of economic value. 

 Every one knows in a general way that birds render most valuable 

 service to the farmer, both in the field and in the orchards. In- 

 vestigations have been made to determine just what such services 

 are. Results have been striking and can no longer be ignored. In 

 many places some of our sweetest songsters and most useful in- 

 sect destroyers have become scarce or have entirely disappeared. 

 The great value of insectivorous and granivorous birds cannot 

 be overestimated. Thus, while the chickadees, woodpeckers and 

 other winter birds are ridding the trees of insects, eggs and 

 larvae, the granivorous birds are reaping a crop of weed seeds, 

 which left to germinate would cause a heavy loss to our agricul- 

 tural interests. The fact is evident to all who have given 

 any attention whatever to the subject that if the cruel and use- 



