i8i4 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



mable value in suppressing the ravages of insects and rodents and in 

 destroying the seeds of weeds. Much as we have dwelt on this, it should 

 not be thought that this is their only value, their only place in nature, 

 their only excuse for living. The greatest value of birds lies not in the 

 number of insects that they destroy, great as that is, but in the beauty 

 and interest that they bring into human life. The study of birds, more 

 than any other pursuit, gives one a healthy interest in the out-of-doors 

 and provides a never-failing resource — a resource which if attained in 

 childhood grows only richer with maturity, and forms one of the few 

 links between childhood and old age. One should learn to know the 

 birds and should teach his children to know them. 



