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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 willing to give to have a 

 pair nest by their home. 



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

 in cages. 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. 1 ) 



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. 



1 I had hoped to place alongside of the aesthetic 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," Bulletin No. 46, Hatch Experiment Station, 

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

 must be worth much more. 



