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COMMON BIRDS OF TOWN AND COUNTRY 3 
under cultivation in the United States is 
larger than ever before, and that the 
crops are greater, the cost of foodstuffs 
continually mounts upward. Meanwhile 
the destruction of farm and orchard 
crops by insects and by rodents amounts 
to many millions each year, and if any 
part of this loss can be prevented it will 
be so much clear gain. 
The protection of insectivorous and 
rodent-destroying birds is one of the 
most effective means of preventing much 
of this unnecessary loss, and the public 
is rapidly awakening to the importance 
of this form of conservation. From the 
farmers’ standpoint, such birds as the 
bobwhite, prairie - chicken, the upland 
plover, and the other shore birds are 
worth very much more as insect eaters 
than as food or as objects of pursuit by 
the sportsman. This statement applies 
with especial force to such species as the 
prairie-chicken, which everywhere in its 
old haunts is threatened with extinction. 
The value of birds to the farmer is 
plain enough, but we do not usually think 
of birds as having any direct relation to 
the public health. To prove that they do, 
however, it is only necessary to state that 
500 mosquitoes have been found in the 
stomach of a single nighthawk; that in 
a killdeer’s stomach hundreds of the 
larve of the salt-marsh mosquito have 
been found, and that many shore birds 
greedily devour mosquito larvee. 
As mosquitoes are known to carry the 
germs of such serious diseases as dengue 
fever and malaria, it is evident that by 
destroying them birds are conferring an 
important benefit on man. It may be 
added that not infrequently ticks are eaten 
by birds, and that the tick responsible for 
the spread of Texas fever among cattle 
has been found in the stomach of the 
bobwhite. 
Since birds perform such invaluable 
service, every effort should be made to 
protect the birds we now have and to in- 
crease their numbers. This can be done 
in several ways: (a) by furnishing nest- 
ing boxes for certain species, as swal- 
lows, martins, wrens, woodpeckers, great- 
crested flycatchers, and others; (b) by 
planting berry-bearing shrubs about the 
farm or orchard as food for the birds 
in winter; (c) by the establishment of 
bird sanctuaries, where birds may be rea- 
sonably safe from their natural enemies 
and be permitted to live and breed in ab- 
solute security as far as man is concerned. 
Here, again, the National Government, 
taking the lead, has set apart no less than 
64 bird refuges in various parts of the 
United States. These for the most part 
are rocky, barren islands of little or no 
agricultural value, but of very great use- 
fulness in the cause of bird protection. 
The example thus set is now being fol- 
lowed by certain States, as Oregon and 
Wisconsin. Several private citizens also 
have acquired islands for the purpose of 
making bird preserves of them; others 
not only prevent the destruction of wild 
life on their forested estates, but go much 
farther, and endeavor in various ways to 
increase the number of their bird tenants. 
Efforts to protect birds on a smaller 
scale and to attract them about dwellings, 
with a view to their close companionship, 
are worthy of all praise, and such efforts 
should be far more common in this coun- 
try than they are at present, particularly 
as the means involve little trouble or ex- 
pense. The presence of trees and shrub- 
bery near the house is of itself an open 
invitation to birds which they are eager 
to accept, particularly if the shrubbery is 
not too closely pruned. Birds like thick 
vines and tangles, in the recesses of which 
they feel safe from their many enemies. 
Suet, nuts, and other bird foods, if ex- 
posed in conspicuous places, can usually 
be depended on to attract birds in winter, 
and often avail to save many lives, espe- 
cially when snow covers the ground. 
Species which are not berry eaters, like 
the woodpeckers, nuthatches, creepers, 
and chickadees, can be made winter resi- 
dents of many farms, even in the North, 
by putting out at convenient places a sup- 
ply of suet, of which they and many other 
birds are very fond, even in summer. 
Hedges and thickets about the farm are 
important to furnish nesting sites and 
shelter both from the elements and from 
the numerous enemies of birds. 
Few are aware of the difficulty often 
experienced by birds in obtaining water 
for drinking and bathing, and a constant 
supply of water near the farmhouse will 
materially aid in attracting birds to the 
neighborhood and in keeping them there, 
