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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



Our Native Birds' Protectorate 



Under the Direction of the Committees on Bird Protection. 



National Association of Gardeners, L. H. Jensen, St. Louis, Mo., Chairman, 



American Association of Park Superintendents, Herman Merkel, New York, Chairman. 



WHY A "CITY ORNITHOLOGIST?" 



This question is undoubtedly being asked by some 

 of the readers of the G.\rdeners' Chronicle, after read- 

 ing the report of the committee on bird protection, 

 published in the May issue, and a statement of the 

 thoughts that induced the writer to add this paragraph 

 to the report may lead to some valuable discussions 

 and comments by Chronicle readers. 



For sentimental reasons alone, I think, that, any 

 large city could afford to pay for the protection of our 

 native birds. To have the public parks and tree lined 

 city streets abound with birds of song and color; to 

 have the places now occupied by the European sparrow 

 regained by our native feathered friends, would be 

 worth many times the cost of the office of a city 

 ornithologist. 



American cities, as a rule, are not particularly senti- 

 mental, but require to be shown in a tangible way. that 

 the result will be worth the cost, as measured l)y the 

 standard of dollars. 



We know, that the economic value of birds consists 

 principally in their relentless and untiring warfare 

 against insects injurious to vegetation. If the num- 

 l^er of insectivorous birds is very greatly decreased, 

 man must pay for the work of checking the destruc- 

 tion of vegetation by insects. The protection of our 

 native birds would reduce, and in many cases entirely 

 prevent this work. 



Most articles relating to economic bird ]jrotection 

 have considered the country districts, and their crops 

 of grain and fruit, which of course must be protected 

 at anv cost, but, not so often is consideration taken of 

 the value of ])rotecting the city vegetation. 



Within recent years, we are beginning to realize, 

 that the trees and shrubs of our parks and streets are 

 of great economic value to the ever increasing number of 

 people who must live in cities. 



In the country the enemies of birds are not as many 

 as in the city. The English sparrow is not so common 

 along the woody highways of the country, and the 

 stray cat, one of the worst enemies of our birds, not 

 so much in evidence as in the city. 



At night large hordes of injurious insects are drawn 

 to the bright lights of the city, there to perform their 

 work of destruction, on the very form of vegetation 

 which makes the living in cities possible. 



Owing to the large number of insects attracted by 

 the lights, insectivorous birds would come to the cities 

 in large numbers, provided they were given proper pro- 

 tection. Hence the need of a city ornithologist. 



A citv ornithologist should be one who thorcjughly 

 knows birds and their habits. He should look after 

 the distribution and placing of bird boxes and the dis- 

 tribution of food for the birds, at such times as feed- 

 ing would seem essential. He should instruct the 

 chddren, at school and at the playground, on the im- 

 portance of the birds to the city and its inhabitants. 

 He should protect the birds from their enemies, and 

 work out a bird census of the city, which would show 

 the annual decrease or increase of birds, etc. 



We are confident that the effort for the protection 



of birds in cities, if systematically carried out, would 

 be of untold benefit to the city population of this 

 country, and we wish to enlist the aid and support of 

 every reader of the G.\rdeners' Chronicle, of every 

 lover of birds, of every live civic organization, of every 

 park board, and of every one interested in the betterment 

 of city conditions. I^. P. Jexsen. Chairman. 



BIRDS OF FIELD AND ORCHARD. 



P)irds are the gardener's best friends. Tliis has been 

 said many times before, in many ways, by many writers 

 and observers. But it is one of the things that can bear 

 repetition, and if anything new and compelling can be 

 said, the repetition will be well worthy of attention. Be- 

 sides, very, very few understand the extent of the birds' 

 help in raising each year's crops. 



One who begrudges birds the little fruit which they 

 may eat in the fruit season is apt to forget that the fruit 

 season is very short, while these helpers are working for 

 him the year round. In the winter the woodpeckers, 

 nuthatches, and brown creejjers, are literally climbing up 

 his trees — gathering insect larvae and eggs from trunk 

 and limbs, bark creases and knot holes. In the spring, 

 when leaf and flower buds are bursting, when all foliage 

 is tender, and insect larvae begin to devoiu", warblers, 

 greenlets, and kinglets come from the South by hundreds 

 to search every delicate crevice and cranny of leaf, bud, 

 and blossom : and were it not for these mighty pigmy 

 hunters, our trees, fruit, and vegetables would literally be 

 at the mercy of insects. Then, all summer long there re- 

 main with us blueljirds. wrens, robins, grosbeaks, king- 

 birds, flickers, orioles, thrushes, catbirds, all of which, 

 while incidentally building nests and rearing young, spend 

 most of their time protecting our trees, fruit and vege- 

 tables. 



The greater portion of the food of these birds consists 

 of noxious insects ; and when a liird is not nesting or sing- 

 ing or sleeping it is ustially searching for food. 



It should be noted, also, that most birds feed their 

 young entirelv upon insects ; and the open mouth of the 

 hungry bird is proverbial. Most of our common birds 

 raise two broods a year. Think of the nimiber of insects 

 necessary to feed from twelve to sixteen young wrens, 

 or eight or ten youg robins ! Young birds grow so rapid- 

 ly that the amount of food they eat is simply astounding. 



If one thus attracts birds to his garden he will find 

 that they soon learn to be on hand when any plowing, 

 spading, hoeing, raking or weeding is going on ; for it is 

 when the soil is disturbed that worms and insects are 

 brought to the surface ; and in approaching near to the 

 worker to secure them, the birds, especially robins, be- 

 come almost as tame and bold as chickens. 



Black-billed cuckoos, kingbirds, orioles, are all very 

 active in destroying beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, wee- 

 vils, caterpillars, ants and click-beetles, the larvae of the 

 latter being among the most destructive insects known. 

 The grosbeak is the particular enemy of the potato beetle, 

 while the robin, the house wren, the bluebird and catbird 

 are all shown to subsist mostly on animal matter, the 

 greater portion of which consists of insects. — Our Dumb 

 Animals. 



