348 Bird -Lore 



of flowers; and the pleasure to be derived from their culture, afford an all- 

 sufficient explanation for the attention we pay them. 



But it has come to pass, during the last quarter of a century, that many 

 dwellers beyond the city gates have become aware that the world contains 

 birds as well as flowers, and that these creatures have not only a beauty which 

 appeals to the eye, but often a voice whose message stirs emotions to be reached 

 only through the ear; and that they further possess humanlike attributes 

 which go deeper still, arousing within us feelings which are akin to those we 

 entertain toward our fellow-beings. 



Realizing this, it naturally follows that we should attempt to establish 

 closer relations with these attractive, tuneful, inteUigent creatures by offering 

 them evidences of our good will and hospitality. To this end we have 

 developed what, to hold our parallel, we may well call bird-gardening. We 

 cannot, like the child in the story, plant bird seed with the hope of raising a 

 crop of birds, but we can place our bird seed, suet and nuts, baths, fountains, 

 and nesting-boxes in such a way that the crop of birds will materialize after 

 all — provided we weed out the cats, English Sparrows, and other bird enemies. 



The flower gardener is independent. The fate of his particular plot lies 

 largely in his own hands. But successful bird-gardening requires cooperation. 

 Of what avail is it for me to be without a cat if my neighbors harbor them? 

 How useless it is for me to war on English Sparrows when just beyond my 

 boundary line they find safety? 



What can one or two persons, unaided, do toward the creation of con- 

 ditions favorable for the existence of Citizen Bird? 



What the individual cannot do, the club of individuals can. Given, then, the 

 object, its attainment becomes largely a matter of details and methods. Every 

 Bird Club will have its own purely local problems which it must solve in its 

 own way. There will remain, however, certain general principles applicable to 

 most cases, and Bird-Lore has invited Mr. Baynes, who has been so promin- 

 ently identified with the bird-club movement, and others who have had to do 

 with certain clubs, to contribute suggestions or experiences which will be of 

 assistance to others in organizing bird clubs, and in aiding them to awaken a 

 community interest in what Dr. Grinnell has called their "assets" in bird-life. 



While we may at first believe these to be only economic and esthetic, 

 closer association with birds cannot fail to arouse that more serious interest in 

 them which, on developing, makes the bird-lover also a bird-student and 

 thereby heir to all the keener pleasures of the true ornithologist. 



