ADIRONDACK BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO 

 FORESTRY. 



We have all learned, it is to be hoped, to look at a forest not as 

 a mere collection of trees, but as an organic whole, the result of 

 actions and reactions of all the factors found within its limits. 



Technicall}' speaking, there is required a forest canopy of cer- 

 tain density and a forest floor, both of which conditions must be 

 produced by a stand of timber trees, not fruit trees ; yet this does 

 not, by any means, include all of the component factors of the 

 actual forest. The shade-enduring herbs and shrubs on the 

 ground, the mosses and lichens on tree trunks and branches, and 

 a host of other vegetable forms are likewise a part of the forest 

 whole, since they are products of and entirel}' dependent upon 

 natural forest conditions for their maintenance. Going a step 

 further, the worms of the soil, the diptera in the air, the myriads 

 of insects on leaves and bark, the mammals, and lastly, the birds 

 in tlie branches may likewise be included. Whether or not an 

 actual part, it is at any rate true that all of these animal and 

 vegetable forms do exist and play their important role in the 

 economy of the forest. 



The nitrifying bacteria in the soil are constantly replacing the 

 nitrogenous elements absorbed by the trees in their process of 

 growth. Other minute organisms and certain fungi are reducing 

 by decomposition the fallen leaves and twigs and dead trees into 

 available plant food, and so on each individual is doing its share 

 towards the perpetuation of the forest. The larger animate things 

 are likewise doing their part, but in a totally different, yet equally 

 efficient way ; their work being found in the extermination of 

 smaller forms detrimental to tree growth. 



No living thing can long exist without a food supply of some 

 sort, thus it has come about that many of the higher forms of life 

 fiu'l their source of supply in other forms smaller or weaker than 

 themselves. When this food supply is found in an animal or 

 plant which is of value to man, the organism which feeds thereon 

 is termed "injurious." Thus when an insect lays its eggs under 



