SECOND ANNUAL MEETING 19 



■overbalanced conditions. Year by year the gap which at first was 

 scarcely noticeable becomes widened, so that frequent inroads are 

 made and harm results. Instead of trying to ascertain the true cause 

 for all this trouble perhaps exactly the wrong thing is done by the 

 settlers. This of course only has the effect of further widening the 

 gap between safety and danger. Since an insect or other animal be- 

 comes noticeablj' harmful only when present in alarming numbers, it 

 stands to reason that anj'thing which favors such an abnormal in- 

 crease is a factor in disturbing nature and should be quickly rectified 

 where possible. In order that these disturbances should be looked 

 after the all-^^ise God of the universe created birds and gave them the 

 power of flight that they might the more readily move about rapidly 

 from place to place where their services might be needed in balancing: 

 affairs. Hence birds have naturally and rightfully been called the 

 "balancers" in nature. This being true, let us see just what their re- 

 lations are to agriculture. 



The farmer sows in order that he may reap an increased measure 

 of what he has sown. In doing this he must first turn over the soil. 

 This destroys manj^ existing plants as well as animals that depend upom 

 them for food. The plants thus turned down cannot regain their 

 position and must of necessity die. Not so with many of the animals-, 

 however, which soon work their way to the surface. Some of these 

 attack the growing plants which have been made to occupy the place 

 of those destroyed by the plow. Others take wing and seek suitable 

 food in adjoining districts where they add to the numbers already 

 drawing upon the vegetation up to the point of possible continued 

 supply. Here, then, the scales begin to vibrate. In the field the new 

 and tender crop entices the ever-shifting individuals of myriads of 

 forms that have been crowded out elsewhere. The result here too is» 

 or would be, very disastrous were it not for the timely visit of flocks 

 of birds likewise in search of food. 



It is during the period of first settlement of a country, when the 

 fields are small, few and widely separated, that injury may and fre- 

 quently does result from birds. It is then a problem that needs care- 

 ful consideration, not only for the time being, but also for the future 

 welfare of that country. If animal life is destroyed indiscriminately 

 and without intelligent forethought, calamities unforeseen are sure to 

 follow in the not distant future. 



Birds can be useful to man in many ways. They can benefit him by 

 carrying the seeds of various plants from place to place so as to assist 

 him in establishing new groves in which to find shelter from the cold 

 in winter and refuge from the heat of the noonday sun in summer. 

 They plant various shrubs by the wayside that spring up and later are 

 laden with luscious fruit. They also carry the spawn of fishes and 

 small crustaceans among their feathers into new waters, and feed 

 upon the countless seeds of weeds that are scattered broadcast over 



