Birds and the Fruit-Farm 295 



able, and flowing from the poles toward the equa- 

 tor do a like service for the hot regions. Rivers of 

 air also flow from the equator to the poles, from the 

 poles to the equator, and the motion of the earth 

 through space imparts to the rivers of sea and air 

 a vast spiral motion so that all regions of the earth 

 are reached and affected by this vast circuit of 

 aerial and marine ventilation. Not less remarkable 

 are the annual bird migrations from equatorial 

 regions northward into our temperate zone; south- 

 ward into the temperate regions of Asia, Africa, 

 and South America. Back and forth this river of 

 bird-life flows, and has flowed through the ages. 

 It too has its function in maintaining the nice 

 balance of life on the globe. Happily we cannot 

 destroy the rivers of the sea or of the sky, but we 

 are doing our best to destroy the equally helpful 

 and necessary river of birds. But — ''Stop! Look! 

 Listen!" Destroy the birds and in less than 

 twenty years mankind will literally **be eaten of 

 worms." 



The world is filling up; the continents and the 

 isles of the sea are becoming peopled. There are 

 now one hundred millions of people in the United 

 States. When George Washington was President, 

 and our country was bounded by Canada and the 

 Floridas, by the Atlantic and the Mississippi 

 River, there were only three million people. How 

 long before there will be five hundred million — yes, 

 five times five hundred million? You say, ''What's 

 that to me?" What generation — your children's 



