USES OF NATURAL AREAS 



31 



the State, and to be under the absolute 

 control of the Game Commission, for 

 the purpose of propagating wild life and 

 bringing back our forests and waters. 

 The results attained have been so 

 evident and so uniformly successful 

 in all our Refuges as to demonstrate 

 beyond any question the value of this 

 idea. Our Preserves are no longer an 

 experiment. The steady increase in the 

 supply of game in them, on the large 

 public hunting-grounds surrounding 

 them, and in their neighborhood, has 

 been remarkable. The large northern 

 deer imported from other States and 

 placed in these Refuges have thrived 

 and multiplied so that localities in which 

 they were formerly plentiful but had 

 been exterminated are again populated 

 with these beautiful and useful creatures 

 of the woods. 



Many stories are told regarding the 

 instinct or sagacity of the deer, espe- 

 cially old bucks, in eluding their pur- 

 suers by seeking safety in these refugees. 

 The grouse and turkeys are quick to 

 take advantage of these sanctuaries, 

 especially the former. 



To our minds, this system of game 

 propagation in its habitat and environ- 

 ment under absolutely natural condi- 

 tions with protection from hunters and 

 predatory animals, is infinitely superior 

 to any plan which involves the breeding 

 of game in confinement. In fact, the 

 Pennsylvania Game Commission con- 

 siders it a patriotic duty to bend all its 

 energies and apply all its resources to the 

 conservation and perpetuation of our 

 native and useful wild life rather than 

 to import from foreign countries at 

 great expense birds and animals of 

 doubtful values. 



Through the adoption of Pennsyl- 

 vania's constructive Game Refuge 

 policy, the million acres of State Forest 

 Reserve, on which a few years ago wild 

 life was almost extinct, are being gradu- 

 ally made into the greatest hunting 

 and recreation grounds ever contem- 

 plated for the benefit of the people of 

 any State. 



7. THE RELATION OF OUR SHRUBS 



AND TREES TO OUR WILD 



BIRDS 1 



BY F. SMITH 



Anyone who pays even slight attention 

 to the citizens of our bird world knows 

 that they show preferences for certain 

 kinds of surroundings. For some kinds 

 of birds one must go to the open fields; 

 for others, to the woodlands; while 

 many shore and water birds must be 

 sought along the water courses and in the 

 swamps. A somewhat further acquain- 

 tance leads to the knowledge that birds 

 of a given species may frequent very 

 different kinds of situations for feeding, 

 for nesting, and for refuge. Some spe- 

 cies, as the robins and grackles which 

 feed in the open fields, seek refuge and 

 nesting sites in the woodlands and in 

 shade trees. Still others, which may 

 feed and nest on the ground in open 

 fields, do not get very far from some 

 protecting shrubbery or hedge to which 

 they fly when disturbed. 



Although certain kinds of birds are 

 ready to adapt themselves to quite 

 extensive changes in their surroundings, 

 others will simply disappear when such 

 changes occur. The cutting away of 

 the forests of several northern states is 

 known to have been followed by a 

 decrease of some of the forest-loving 

 species and an increase of those that 

 prefer the open fields or the shrubby 

 areas incident to new clearings. Re- 

 ports on the birds of several different 

 states are confirmatory of this statement. 



When one learns the habits of all the 

 birds which are to be found during the 

 year in any one of our ordinary Illinois 

 localities and then makes a list of those 

 which are not dependent in any way on 

 trees or shrubs for food, nesting sites, 



1 From "Arbor and Bird Days," Illinois Cir. 

 No. 83, Springfield, 1915. 



W. L. McAtee states that there exists in most parts 

 of the United States either a superstition, a con- 

 viction, or a legal requirement that roadsides be 

 shorn of their vegetation at least once a year. So 

 far as the effect upon birds is concerned, there can 

 be no doubt that suppression of roadside vegeta- 

 tion is a potent factor in restricting their numbers. 

 "Attracting Birds to Public and Semi-public Reser- 

 vations," U. S. D. A. Bull. 715. 



