4 THE EXTENSION 
Why Study Birds—The study of bird life is not advocat- 
ed because of sentimental considerations for the birds them- 
selves, but on account of their important relation to human 
life and welfare. An analysis of the subject from this point 
of view reveals the fact that birds are to be considered 
from the standpoint of three main groups of people, though 
the same person may have a place in each of these groups. 
1st, those who are interested in birds because of the pleasure 
to be derived from acquaintance with the living bird, 2nd, 
those who are interested as hunters in the game birds, and 
3rd, those who are financially interested in birds because of 
their economic relation to such lines of production as agri- 
culture, horticulture and forestry. 
Persons who belong to the first group and find their 
greatest pleasure in the living birds have a much stronger 
claim for the recognition of their rights than has usually 
been appreciated. People as a whole are just beginning to 
realize that the gaining of wholesome pleasure is not merely 
a harmless pastime but that this is of fundamental import- 
ance in the development of a worthy, well-rounded human 
life. The brightest minds of the present day are being de- 
voted to a solution of the problem of how to bring a larger 
proportion of pleasure into the lives of larger numbers of 
people. It is coming to be recognized that much of the in- 
tellectual, social, and economic stagnation in the world is 
due to the fact that not enough pleasure is sought or found 
to satisfy and stimulate the life to its largest possibilities 
of accomplishment and development. Witness the move- 
ments on foot to provide playgrounds for the children, to 
arrange for shorter hours of labor and longer hours and 
suitable places of recreation for those who toil and especial- 
ly the efforts that are being made to organize those who live 
more or less isolated lives in the country into social commu- 
nities where young and adults may seek and find pleasurable 
activities sufficient to satisfy the natural craving of the mind 
for pleasure. Hence, when we, as a people, come to appre- 
ciate more fully the fascinating delight, the wholesome in- 
fluence and the recreational value of tramping the fields, 
roaming the woodlands, wading the sloughs or boating on 
the waters to get acquainted with the living birds, the more 
confidently may this right to enjoy one of uature’s choicest 
heritages be asserted and maintained. Birds being a natural 
wild and shifting population, belong to all the people, hence 
are rightfully declared in the law to be the property of the 
state as a whole. On this ground the people of the state are 
justified in insisting that even though a given bird has no 
