2 



COMMON BIRDS OF TOWN AND COUNTRY 



in the field, and the result is a large 

 amount of invaluable data illustrative of 

 the economic relations of many kinds of 

 birds. This storehouse of information 

 has been largely drawn upon in the fol- 

 lowing pages. 



OUR COUNTRY IS PARTICULARLY FORTU- 

 NATE IN THE NUMBER AND 

 VARIETY OF ITS BIRDS 



It would be strange indeed if our land, 

 with its vast extent of territory, its diver- 

 sified landscape, its extensive forests, its 

 numerous lakes and streams, with its 

 mountains, prairies, and plains, had not 

 been provided by Nature with an abun- 

 dant and diversified bird life. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, America has been favored 

 with a great variety of birds famed both 

 for beauty and for song. America also 

 possesses certain families, as the hum- 

 mingbirds and wood-warblers, the like 

 of which exist nowhere else in the world. 



In considering the many kinds of 

 birds in the United States from the prac- 

 tical side, they may not inaptly be com- 

 pared to a police force, the chief duty of 

 which is to restrain within bounds the 

 hordes of insects that, if unchecked, 

 would devour every green thing. To 

 accomplish this task successfully, the 

 members of the force must be variously 

 equipped, as we find they are. Indeed, 

 while the 1,200 kinds of birds that inhabit 

 the United States can be grouped in fam- 

 ilies which resemble each other in a gen- 

 eral way, yet among the members of the 

 several families are marked variations of 

 form and plumage and still greater vari- 

 ation of habits, which fit them for their 

 diversified duties. 



As the bulk of insects spend more or 

 less time on the ground, so we find that 

 more birds are fitted for terrestrial serv- 

 ice than for any other. Our largest bird 

 family, the sparrows, is chiefly terres- 

 trial, and although its members depend 

 much upon seeds for subsistence they 

 spend no little share of their time search- 

 ing for insects. They are ably aided in the 

 good work by the thrushes, wrens, certain 

 of the warblers, and many other birds. 



Another group is of arboreal habits, 

 and plays an important part in the con- 

 servation of our forests, the true value 

 of which we have onlv recentlv learned 



to appreciate. So man}- insects burrow 

 into trees that a highly specialized class 

 of birds — the woodpeckers — has been 

 developed to dig them out. The bills, 

 tongues, feet, and even the tails of these 

 birds have been cunningly adapted to this 

 one end, and the manner in which this has 

 been done shows how fertile Nature is in 

 equipping her servants to do her bidding. 



The bark of trees also forms a favorite 

 shelter for numerous insects, and behold 

 the wrens, nuthatches, warblers, and 

 creepers, with sharpest of eyes and slen- 

 derest of bills, to detect our foes and to 

 dislodge them from crack and cranny. 



The air is full of flying insects, and to 

 take care of these there are the swallows, 

 swifts, and nighthawks, whose wings and 

 bodies are so shaped as to endow them 

 with the speed and agility necessary to 

 follow all the turns and windings of their 

 nimble insect prey. 



The whip-poor-wills, swift of wing and 

 with capacious mouths beset with bris- 

 tles, attend to the night-flying insects 

 when most birds are asleep, while the 

 hawks by day and the owls by night sup- 

 plement the work of other birds and have 

 a special function of their own, the de- 

 struction of noxious rodents. 



Thus every family of birds plays its 

 own part in the warfare against insects 

 and other foes to man's industry, and 

 contributes its share to man's welfare. 



Birds would fall far short of what they 

 accomplish for man were they not the 

 most active of living things. It is curious 

 that the group of vertebrates w^hich live 

 the fastest — that is, have a higher tem- 

 perature and a more rapid circulation 

 than any other — should be related by de- 

 scent to a family of such cold-blooded 

 creatures as the reptiles and lizards, 

 which often go without food and hiber- 

 nate for considerable periods. \'ery dif- 

 ferent is it with birds. Few realize the 

 enormous quantity of food required to 

 sustain the energy of these creatures, 

 most of whose waking hours are spent 

 in a never-ending search for food. 



BIRDS CHECK RAVAGES OF DISEASE- 

 CARRYING INSECTS 



In satisfying their own hunger birds 

 perform an important service to man, for 

 notwithstanding the fact that the acreage 



