1 65 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



marvellous examples of bird migration. 



Identifying the smaller birds — espec- 

 ially the warblers— during the fall flight 

 is no easy matter: the predominence of 

 immature' birds in their differing plum- 

 ages, and the change in many of the 

 adults from their well-known summer 

 g-arb to a totally dififerent winter one, 

 making them scarcely recognizable. The 

 new songs of the young and changed 

 calls of the old bird's also seem to add to 

 this difficulty. In northern Florida, in 

 early November. I have observed this 

 confusion among the warblers, sometimes 

 studying them close at hand when there 

 seemed to be so many diiTerent kinds that 

 ] could scarcely find two birds alike in 

 the entire flock. 



Bird migration is an interesting and 

 important part of general bird study, nnd 

 we should be glad to receive notes and 

 observations upon this subject from any 

 of our readers. 



The Value of Birds to Man. 



A few^ items from the comprehensive 

 and valuable article under the above 

 title by James Buckland of London. 

 England, in the annual report of the 

 Smithsonian Institution for 1913 have 

 been briefly summed up in the follow- 

 ing by the Alal:)ama Bird Day Book, 

 and printed in the August number of 

 the "National Humane Review." 



It is impossible to review the many 

 valuable features of this article in so 

 limited a space and it should be read 

 entire by all interested in bird protec- 

 tion and insect depredations. 



"Remarkable instances of the birds' 

 services to man include the introduc- 

 tion of the English sparrow into New 

 Zealand with the resulting elimination 

 of the thistle and the caterpillar, 

 which were ruining the land and 

 crops, and the saving of Australian 

 agriculture from the grasshoppers by 

 the straw-necked ibis, in individual 

 craws of which an average of 2,400 

 grasshoppers was found. The story 

 of Frederick the Great, wherein he is 

 alleged to have ordered all small birds 

 killed because the sparrows had pecked 

 at some of his cherries, and the result- 

 ing lack of fruit but fine crop of 

 caterpillars two years later, proves a 

 graphic lesson. The "Scalp Act" of 

 Pennsylvania, which paid bounties of 

 $90,000 for the extermination of 

 hawks and owls, lost for the State 



$3,850,000 in damage to agriculture, 

 due to the increase of small rodents 

 which resulted. When Montana was 

 free from hawks and owls it became 

 so overrun with destructive rodents 

 that the Legislature offered rewards 

 for them — a task which the banished 

 hawks and owls had performed free 

 of charge. But during the first six 

 months such large sums of money 

 were paid out that a special session 

 of the Legislature was called to repeal 

 the act before the State went bank- 

 rupt. In 191 2 Lord Kitchener pointed 

 out the necessity of prohibiting the de- 

 struction of certain Egyptian birds 

 which prevented insect pests." 



Shore Bird Protection. 



The placing lA the small sandpipers, 

 curlew, avocet, godwit and several spe- 

 cies of plover which have been nearing 

 extinction on the protected list under 

 the federal law is a timely procedure 

 by our national legislators. 



Mr. Wells W' . Cooke of the Biological 

 Survey in advocating the prohibiting of 

 all shooting at the beach resorts along 

 the Atlantic coast is also starting a 

 movement which should do consider- 

 able toward increasing these graceful 

 little birds which add so much to the 

 life along our shores, and every prop- 

 erty owner at these resorts should glad- 

 ly give his assistance toward the secur- 

 insT of such lesfislation. 



A fifty-three page article, with seven- 

 ty-two colored plates and four half-tones, 

 on "American Game Birds" appears in 

 the "National Geographic Magazine" for 

 August ; this being the fifth of a compre- 

 hensive series of bird articles printed in 

 that magazine within the past two years. 



The present article deals with the 

 waterfowl, shore-birds, grouse, quail, 

 etc., — each picture being accompanied by 

 a short description of the bird's habits 

 and range. The plates are from paint- 

 ings by that well-known bird artist, Louis 

 Agassiz Fuertes,and the text is by Hen- 

 ry W. Henshaw, Chief of the U. S. Bio- 

 logical Survey. This list is supplement • 

 ed by a short resume of the protective 

 game laws and an index, and, especially 

 in connection with the previous articles 

 referred to, which have been combined 

 and issued in a thin volume, it makes a 

 handv reference. 



