THE STUDY OF BIRD LIFE 



THE STUDY OF BIRD LIFE 



Robbing birds' nests, if not encouraged, is at least 

 permitted by the majority of parents ; the boy, in 

 consequence, looks upon it as an innocent pastime. 

 Every egg taken from a nest is one ally less in our 

 fight against the insect enemy. Boys have a passion 

 for collecting eggs, which are hoarded up for a brief 

 period, then neglected and thrown away, or smashed. 

 This indiscriminate collecting of birds' eggs by boys is 

 stupid and senseless. It is very rarely we find a boy 

 making a systematic collection, viz., affixing the name, 

 locality, date, number of eggs in the clutch, colour, 

 when collected, etc. A boy who possesses the know- 

 ledge to do this is always sufficiently educated on the 

 subject to never be tempted to take more than a single 

 egg from a nest. However, birds' egg collecting in 

 any shape or form should be sternly forbidden by 

 parents and guardians of boys. It is infinitely prefer- 

 able to teach boys that birds are their friends and 

 helpers, and as such they should be protected in every 

 way possible. 



When seed-eating birds increase unduly in numbers 

 and become a serious menace to the agriculturist, 

 the destruction of their nests and their egg or 

 nestling contents is often advocated by those in 

 authority and by individual farmers. This method of 

 reduction is essentially wrong, for the reason that 

 these birds rear their young at the time when the 

 crops are green and succulent. At this time insect 



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