Cfje ^utiubon Societies; 



SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by ALICE HALL WALTER 



Address all communications relative to the work of this depart- 

 ment to the Editor, 67 Oriole Avenue, Providence, R. I. 



PRACTICAL CONSERVATION OF BIRDS 



The Superintendent of Public Schools in Wilmington, N. C, writes: "We 

 are endeavoring to make our entire county, New Hanover, a Bird Conserva- 

 tion County. On two sides we have the sea, and on the other, the Cape Fear 

 Ri\er. A number of migratory birds spend the winter here. W'e want to con- 

 tinue our work through the schools, and to make it effective and permanent." 



In direct connection with the suggestions in the last issue for making state, 

 county and village census-maps of bird-populations, for purposes of study and 

 comparison, is this practical plan of setting about systematically to conserve 

 bird-life within a single county. There could be no better way to make a real 

 beginning in conservation than to start all the schools within a limited area in 

 a study of the different species of birds found there throughout the year, together 

 with the best methods of attracting and protecting them. Results are bound 

 to come more rapidly in this way, for concentrated effort is an essential point 

 in any successful undertaking. 



Think what it would mean in any state, if individual counties or towns 

 determined to find out more accurately the kinds and numbers of birds present, 

 the kinds of food preferred by them, the enemies and dangers about them, and 

 the laws governing their relations to man! Within a short time the pubhc 

 would become far more wide awake to the conditions most favorable to birds 

 and man alike, and measures of protective control would be supported without 

 the opposition, now so unhappily and disastrously raised by ignorant or unprin- 

 cipled politicians. A recent Danish paper mentions the wholesale exportation 

 of Gull's eggs from neighboring islands, due to the unusual demands made by 

 the war. Just how far such utilization of a natural resource can be safely 

 allowed, responsible ])ersons in authority should know definitely. In our own 

 country, the national food-administrator, recognizing the value of birds to 

 man, particularly through their relations to agriculture, has urged upon every- 

 one the importance of conserving bird-life. We have the opportunity now, as 

 at no other time within our memory, to make use of every natural resource 

 to its fullest value. Instead of minimizing the necessity of bird-study, the 

 critical moment has arrived when we should strain every nerve to gain any 

 advantage which birds can help to give us. 



It is gratifying to receive reports that birds seem unusually abundant this 

 season. At the moment of writing, in northeastern Vermont, Bluebirds are 



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