COMMON BIRDS OF TOWN AND COUNTRY 



3 



under cultivation in the United States is 

 larger than ever before, and that the 

 crops are greater, the cost of foodstuffs 

 continually mounts upward. Meanwhile 

 the destruction of farm and orchard 

 crops by insects and by rodents amounts 

 to many millions each year, and if any 

 part of this loss can be prevented it will 

 be so much clear gain. 



The protection of insectivorous and 

 rodent-destroying birds is one of the 

 most effective means of preventing much 

 of this unnecessary loss, and the public 

 is rapidly awakening to the importance 

 of this form of conservation. From the 

 farmers' standpoint, such birds as the 

 bobwhite, prairie - chicken, the upland 

 'plover, and the other shore birds are 

 worth very much more as insect eaters 

 than as food or as objects of pursuit by 

 the sportsman. This statement applies 

 with especial force to such species as the 

 prairie-chicken, which everywhere in its 

 old haunts is threatened with extinction. 



The value of birds to the farmer is 

 plain enough, but we do not usually think 

 of birds as having any direct relation to 

 the public health. To prove that they do, 

 however, it is only necessary to state that 

 500 mosquitoes have been found in the 

 stomach of a single nighthawk ; that in 

 a killdeer's stomach hundreds of the 

 larv?e of the salt-marsh mosquito have 

 been found, and that many shore birds 

 greedily devour mosquito larvtC. 



As mosquitoes are known to carry the 

 germs of such serious diseases as dengue 

 fever and malaria, it is evident that by 

 destroying them birds are conferring an 

 im])ortant benefit on man. It may be 

 added that not infrequently ticks are 

 eaten by birds, and that the tick responsi- 

 ble for the spread of Texas fever among 

 cattle has been found in the stomach of 

 the bobwhite. 



Since birds perform such invaluable 

 service, every effort should be made to 

 protect the birds we now have and to in- 

 crease their numbers. This can be done 

 in several ways: (a) by furnishing nest- 

 ing l)oxes for certain species, as swal- 

 lows, martins, wrens, woodpeckers, great- 

 crested tl\catchers, and others; (/') by 

 planting berry-bearing shrubs about the 

 farm or orchard as food fur the birds 

 in winter: ( (■ I 1)\ tlu' cslabhshment of 



bird sanctuaries, where birds may be rea- 

 sonably safe from their natural enemies 

 and be permitted to live and breed in ab- 

 solute security as far as man is concerned. 



Here, again, the National Government, 

 taking the lead, has set apart no less than 

 64 bird refuges in various parts of the 

 United States. These for the most part 

 are rocky, barren islands of little or no 

 agricultural value, but of very great use- 

 fulness in the cause of bird protection. 

 The example thus set is now being fol- 

 lowed by certain States, as Oregon and 

 Wisconsin. Several private citizens also 

 have acquired islands for the purpose of 

 making bird preserves of them ; others 

 not only prevent the destruction of wild 

 life on their forested estates, but go much 

 farther, and endeavor in various ways to 

 increase the number of their bird tenants. 



Efforts to protect birds on a smaller 

 scale and to attract them about dwellings, 

 with a view to their close companionship, 

 are worthy of all praise, and such efforts 

 should be far more common in this coun- 

 try than they are at present, particularly 

 as the means involve little trouble or ex- 

 pense. The presence of trees and shrub- 

 bery near the house is of itself an open 

 invitation to birds which they are eager 

 to accept, particularly if the shrubbery is 

 not too closely pruned. Birds like thick 

 vines and tangles, in the recesses of which 

 they feel safe from their many enemies. 

 Suet, nuts, and other bird foods, if ex- 

 posed in conspicuous places, can usually 

 be depended on to attract birds in winter, 

 and often avail to save many lives, espe- 

 cially when snow covers the ground. 



Species which are not berry eaters, like 

 the woodpeckers, nuthatches, crcejiers, 

 and chickadees, can be made winter resi- 

 dents of many farms, even in the Xorth. 

 by putting out at convenient i)laces a su])- 

 piy of suet, of which they and many other 

 birds are very fond, even in summer. 

 Hedges and thickets about the farm are 

 important to furni.sh nesting sites and 

 shelter both from the elements and from 

 the mimerous enemies of birds. 



Few are aware of the difficulty often 

 experienced by birds in obtaining water 

 for drinking and bathing, and a constant 

 supply of water near the farmhouse will 

 materially aid in attracting birds to the 

 neighborhood and in kcci)ing them there, 



