180 



Elementary Principles of Agriculture 



time one feels tempted to kill birds, he should not only 

 think of the good they do by destroying insects and 

 weed seeds, but possibly not far off there is a group of 

 tender nestlings waiting for mama or papa bird to come 

 home with a morsel of food, to check the pangs of hunger. 

 When women decorate their hats with aigrettes, they 

 encourage selfish persons to kill harmless birds. It is 

 against the laws of many states to kill the useful birds. 

 No one should want to destroy them. Birds should be 

 protected at all seasons. Define "game birds." "Non- 

 game birds/' as used in the laws of your state. 

 bt 252. English Sparrows (Fig. 117) live almost exclu- 

 sively on the farmers' crops, besides destroying the 



Fig. 117. English sparrow. 



eggs and nests of other birds. They should be de- 

 stroyed. The native species of sparrows are insect- 

 eating birds. 



253. Migration of Birds. Some birds live all the time 

 in the same locality, like the partridge, Texas road- 

 runner, and downy woodpecker, the sparrow, and the 



