20 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



state Crows do more good than harm, and if farmers were not 

 prejudiced against them — partly on account of their black garb 

 — and would investigate before passing judgment, they would 

 often find that the damage with which they charge the crow is 

 really done by other animals unseen because nocturnal. 



The English sparrow does not need much protection. Nature 

 has endowed it with so much sagacity and other useful qualities 

 for self-preservation that its future is safe; and many persons 

 are found who like the bird in spite of everything said against it. 

 It is not true that they drive away our native birds. Until lately 

 every plea for bird protection had to be based on their economic 

 value. The aim of the investigator was to express in dollars and 

 cents the benefit which a species bestows on husbandry by des- 

 troying its enemies, animal and vegetable. On the other hand 

 he had to find out exactly what injury a bird does to man by 

 appropriating things belonging to him, or which he claims as his 

 own because of his superiority in the world of creation. Now 

 the time is coming when one can plead for birds on esthetic 

 grounds without asking, does the actual benefit really outweigh 

 the damage? Or, is the number of insects killed really sufficiently 

 large to pay for the fruit it eats? Or, still worse, what is the 

 percentage of beneficial insects in the insect diet of each par- 

 ticular species? Should a species not be classed among the nox- 

 ious animals, because it was found to destroy 60 per cent, of 

 beneficial insects against only 40 per cent, of injurious ones? 



There may have been a time when the American farmer could 

 iU afford to lose a bushel of corn, a peck of cherries or something 

 of equally small value with which to pay for the pleasm^e of being 

 surrounded by bird life all the year round. May be he lacked the 

 esthetic sense which brings the greatest happiness in the enjoy- 

 ment of the beautiful. At present there are many willing and 

 even eager to make sacrifices in order to secure the opportunity 

 for the purest of enjoyments, the admiration of the wonderful 

 works of creation, and certainly not the least among them is 

 the bird ! 



