VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 89 



ground . This travelling about of those in search of birds bids 

 fair eventually to assume consideraljle proportions, and can- 

 not fail to be of some pecuniary importance to transportation 

 companies, as well as to those who minister to the wants of 

 man and beast. Many people prefer to spend their vacations 

 in localities where both the larger and smaller birds are plen- 

 tiful. Thus the aesthetic value of the soaring Hawk or the 

 wading Heron becomes of practical importance to the farmer 

 and hotel keeper who are looking for summer boarders. 

 People of means are fully sensible of the manj^ advantages 

 of life in the country, and are making homes for themselves 

 on our farms. But a merchant prince who established such 

 a home found his enjoyment of the place greatly abridged by 

 the scarcity of birds. With the growing interest in l)irds, 

 towns or localities where birds are plentiful will have an 

 added value as places of residence. 



Possibly, however, the greatest boon that the study of 

 birds can confer upon man is seen in the power of the bird 

 lover to keep his spirit young. One who in his early years 

 is attracted to the study of birds will find that with them he 

 always renews his youth. Each spring the awakening year 

 encompasses him with a flood of joyous bird life. Old friends 

 are they who greet him, and they come as in the days of 

 childhood, bringing tidings of good cheer. Thus it is ever. 

 Years roll on, youth passes, the homes and woods of our 

 childhood disappear, the head becomes bowed with sorrow 

 and frosted by the snows of time, the strong hand trembles, 

 the friends of youth pass away ; but with each returning spring 

 the old familiar bird songs of our childhood come back to 

 us, still unchanged by the passing years. The birds turn 

 back, for us, the flight of time. Their songs are voices 

 from our vanished youth. Let us, then, teach our children 

 to love and protect the birds, that these familiar friends of 

 their childhood may remain to cheer them with song and 

 beauty, when, toward the sunset of life, the shadows will 

 grow long upon the pathway. 



