966 Rural School Leaflet. 



NATURE-STUDY SYLLABUS 



THE FOOD OF BIRDS 

 Arthur A. Allen 



The various phases of bird study are 

 many and diverting: the mysterious 

 migrations, the bright plumages, the 

 charming songs, the nests and eggs. It 

 is seldom we succeed in tearing our- 

 selves away from these and concen- 

 trating our thoughts on the more ser- 

 ious consideration of the bird's place 

 in nature and the economy of bird life. 

 When we do come to a reahzation of the valuable part the birds play 

 in our own lives, we are inspired to even greater interest to learn all we 

 can about them, to care for them, and to protect them. So immediate 

 are their services, even so near to our purse strings, that we wonder how 

 a true realization of their value could have been so long overlooked. 

 It seems impossible that but a few years ago, a great many of our most 

 beneficial birds were actually considered enemies to our agricultural 

 interests and a bounty was placed upon their heads. Such was the price 

 of ignorance. Thousands of valuable birds were killed before the harm 

 that was being done was realized. And then it was too late ! Scourges 

 of insects and rodents swept over the country causing losses of millions 

 of dollars. 



Let us consider for a moment the position allowed the birds in this 

 country. Before its discovery and settlement and civilization by the 

 white man, when nature was allowed to take her own course and settle 

 her own difficulties, insect plagues of any kind were probably of very 

 rare occurrence. The insects which to-day in countless hordes annually 

 damage the crops to the extent of millions of dollars were kept down 

 to normal numbers by their natural enemies, chief among which were 

 the birds. If at any place there was an undue increase of insects, it 

 meant to the birds food more easily secured and they flocked to the 

 spot; and soon the insects disappeared. There always existed this 

 " balance of nature." An increase in the abundance of any plant 

 meant an increase in the number of insects feeding upon that plant, and 

 a corresponding increase in the birds feeding upon these insects. Were 

 we to follow it still further, we should find also an increase in the number 

 of hawks and predaceous animals feeding upon the birds; for in every 



