Economic Value of Birds 



By Frank M. Chapman 



The bird is the property of the State. From this fundamental conception of 

 the bird's legal status there can be no logical ground for dissent. If a certain 

 species of bird is conclusively proven to be injurious to the agricultural or other 

 interests of the State, no one would deny the State's right to destroy that species. 

 If, on the contrary, a species is shown to be beneficial, then the State has an 

 equal right to protect it. Indeed, we may go further and say it is not only the 

 right, but the duty of the State, to give to its birds the treatment they deserve. 

 Here is the great Commonwealth of New York with agricultural and forestry 

 industries which annually yield products valued at $266,000,000. In the closest 

 relation to the welfare of these industries stands a group of animals represented 

 by some 350 species and millions of individuals. Obviously, then, it is the first 

 duty of the State to learn definitely in what way or ways the presence of these 

 incalculably abundant creatures aftects its crops and forests. 



If they are harmful how are they to be destroyed? If they are valuable how 

 are they to be preserved? In short, the State should take all necessary steps to 

 appraise its vast possessions in bird-life. 



The government at Washington realizes the importance of this subject and 

 in 1886 it established, in the Department of Agriculture, a Division of Economic 

 Ornithology and Mammology, with the object of learning accurately the eco- 

 nomic relations of birds and mammals to man. Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska. 

 Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, among the States, have made 

 mvestigations with the same end in view. Now the South is awakening to the 

 vital importance of this practical side of natural history research. At the Annual 

 Session of the Texas Farmers' Congress, held at College Station, Texas, July 

 17, 1902. Professor H. P. Attwater, a prominent ornithologist in the State, was 

 invited to make an address on "The Relation of Birds to the Farmer." In com- 

 menting on this address The State, a newspaper of Meridian, Miss., says: "Bird 

 protection is going to be made an economic issue in every Southern State before 

 many days, and the army of sentimental advocates will be reinforced by the 

 utilitarians, who. while caring nothing for the beauty of the feathered songster 

 or the music he makes, are very much alive to his usefulness in exterminating 

 insects that kill crops, and are determined to stay the hand of the snarer and 

 wanton bird-killer before it is too late and the insects have taken possession of 

 the land. •■' * Wherever common sense prevails this cause will find adv<v 



cates, and The State would like to see Bird Protection mailo an issue in Missis- 

 sippi politics." 



No "issue," however, can be successfully promoted unless the facts involved 

 rest on the firm, incontrovertilile foundation established by exact research. The 

 Forest, Fish and Game Commission of New York State, in calling the attention 

 of the citizens of the State to tiie economic importance of birds, desires to pre- 



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