328 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



we bring about that universal regard for bird life that the 

 country needs. 



Before giving them any of these data below, ask the pupils, as a 

 part of a writing lesson, to make a list of the birds they like best, 

 stating after each how much they would be wiUing to give to have a 

 pair nest by their home. 



People buy birds and go to the expense and care of keeping them 

 in ca^es. How much more is it worth to have a pair of free birds 

 come and nest by your window, to have them sing to you the season 

 through and show you the secrets of their wonderful housekeeping ! 

 Four of my friends have kindly given me estimates as to how much 

 they would be willing to give thus to have a pair of the following 

 birds. (We may compare the figures with Holden's prices for choice 

 songsters of the same species.^) 



Anything that a man can avoid doing under the notion that it is 

 bad, he may also avoid under the notion that something else is good. 



^ I had hoped to place alongside of the esthetic value the economic value of the different 

 birds ; but our highest authorities in ornithology tell us that this is not known for a single 

 bird. If a toad may be worth $19.88 each season for cutworms alone which it destroys 

 (Kirkland's estimate, " The Common Toad," Bulletbi No. 4b, Hatch Experiment Station, 

 Amherst, Mass.), many of our birds, like the chickadee, swallow, wren, robin, and others, 

 must be worth much more. 



