ARBORICULTURE. 



13 



found, and it was ascertained that mice consti- 

 tuted 50 per cent, of their food. In 1885 the 

 State of Pennsylvania passed what was called 

 the "Scalp Act," offering a bounty for the scalps 

 of hawks and owls. The United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has estimated that the 

 passage of that act resulted in killing over one 

 hundred thousand of these birds, and that by 

 their slaughter the State sustained a loss of 

 near $4,000,000 in one year and a half. 



Professor Weed says : "After many years' 

 study of the relation of birds to agriculture, 1 

 am convinced that the birds are a most potent 

 factor in making crop production possible, and 

 without them we should be overrun with pests — 

 vertebrate and invertebrate — to an extent of 

 which we have no conception." Michelet, the 

 great French historian and naturalist, in his 

 "Insect Life," said : "If all the birds of the 

 world were destroyed, it would be uninhabitable 

 for men in nine years." 



Do not all of these facts give us good, sound, 

 practical reasons for protecting the birds ? 



Birds are unique in their structure. They 

 are the only creatures that are covered with 

 feathers. The structure of these feathers is 

 very wonderful. Notice how light they are, yet 

 how strong. How they are adapted to retain- 

 ing the heat of the body and the flight of the 

 bird. Examine the vanes on each side of the 

 shaft and see how wonderfully the thin laminae 

 are interlocked. With all our ingenuity we can 

 make nothing like them. We can not counter- 

 feit them. The Indians of the Shasta moun- 

 tains tell us a beautiful little legend about the 

 origin of birds. The Great Spirit, they say, in 

 looking upon the bright-hued leaves of autumn, 

 thought them too beautiful to die. So he en- 

 dowed them wi-th new life, and gave to them 

 wings and song : 



"Thus from the red-stained oak the robin came 

 The cardinal, the maple's splendor bore; 



The yellow bird the willow's faded gold 

 In living plumage bore." 



This is the reason, so the Indians say, that 

 the birds are so closely allied to the trees, and 

 return each year to build their nests beneath 

 their friendly shelter 



And this is why I love the birds and why I 

 would preserve them. 



No other creatures that God has made are 



so gifted with song as are the birds. As Mr. 

 Chapman says : "Birds' songs are the most 

 eloquent of nature's voices; the gay carol of 

 the grosbeak in the morning, the dreamy mid- 

 day call of the pewee. the vesper hymn of the 

 thrush, the clanging of the geese in springtime, 

 the farewell of the blue birds in the fall — how 

 clearly each one expresses the sentiment of the 

 hour or season." I have heard many great 

 singers, but the songs of none of them has left 

 in my memory a recollection of such sweetness 

 as that of a robin I heard one evening in the 

 springtime, when I, weary, was returning home 

 from my ofifice. It was perched on the topmost 

 linil) of a great maple tree, and there in the 

 rain, with uplifted head, it was pouring out its 

 •^oul in song to God, its Creator. 



"What l)ird is that? Its song is good, 



And eager eyes 

 Go peering through the dusky wood 



In glad surprise. 

 Then late at night, when by his fire 



The traveler sits, 

 Watching the flames go brighter, higher, 



The sweet song flits 

 By snatches through his weary brain 



To help him rest." 



Then why should we not do all we can to 

 |)reserve them? 



We have seen that their services to us are 

 invaluable, that without them our storehouses 

 would be empty, and we know that they are the 

 most beautiful creatures in the world. They 

 are beautiful in their symmetrical forms, in 

 their varied colors, in their. flight, and, as we 

 have seen, in their song. A study of and asso- 

 ciation with them develops a love for the beau- 

 tiful and inspires one to a higher life. And 

 this brings me to the last, but not the least, 

 reason why I love the birds and why I would 

 protect them, and that is this, that God first 

 cared for them and loved them. 



"I am only a tiny sparrow, 

 A bird of low degree ; 

 My life is of little value,- 



But the dear Lord cares for me. 



"I am only a little sparrow, 

 A bird of low degree ; 

 But I know the Father loves me; 

 Have }'ou less faith than we?" 



William Watson Woolen. 



