4 USEFUL BIRDS. 
animals; while the screech owl, Fig. 4, is a useful resident upon any 
farm as a mouse killer. 
Teachers in our public and district schools have an excellent 
opportunity to inculcate in the minds of their boys a desire to 
study the habits of birds and to discourage the maiming and killing 
of song birds or the destruction of their nests and eggs. Usually 
the small boy who would “make a collection” of birds’ eggs wishes 
to do so because they attract him partly by their color, partly per- 
haps by the difficulties involved in securing them, and no doubt also 
influenced by a desire “to collect” which sometimes makes impera- 
tive demands upon both young and old. The loss to agriculture by 
such collections is decidedly great, a loss which is avoidable if the 
boy’s ambitions can be turned into other channels. Acts of this kind. 
egg-collecting without a license, and the killing of song birds are, for 
the most part, punishable by law, but if the child can be led into 
observance of these laws through an intelligent interest in the 
birds themselves, the result is better than if fear is the instigating 
cause. Enough has been said perhaps to emphasize the need upon 
the part of both adults and young of a careful and discriminating 
judgment of birds based upon their food habits before condemning 
them, and the need of encouraging in every way possible their 
continued presence on farm, in garden, and in orchards by boxes 
for wrens, bluebirds, and martins, and by exposing material used 
in nest building; by winter feeding and by fostering generally a 
wise and humane policy towards our feathered associates. The 
recent enactment of laws by Congress protecting birds during 
their migration is one of the best evidences of the growth of a 
higher, and at the same time, a more practical sentiment in this 
direction. A brief description of the birds figured on the plates 
follows: 
Except where noted, the male bird is figured and described. 
ROBIN. 
(Plater, Wis. 13) 
What would a country home be without robins on the lawn! 
As a rule, the robin, which is really a thrush, is useful, although 
a large per cent of its food is fruit. Because of our general attach- 
ment to the bird, agriculturists will probably try every possible 
protective means before having recourse to the shotgun when fruit 
is to be saved. Individuals of this species are found frequently very 
late in the fall, and occasionally where evergreen thickets afford 
