3IO An American Fruit-Farm 



we fire at them from the upper windows and the 

 back door; we set the cats and dogs upon them; 

 we encourage our children to destroy them; we 

 let pothunters roam over our land to kill them, 

 and we kill them ourselves. Providence, we are 

 assured, helps those who help themselves, but does 

 Providence help those who refuse to help them- 

 selves and who do all they possibly can to injure 

 themselves? ''There's the rub." 



A birdless country is a desert, and any country 

 may be made a desert by the destruction of its 

 birds. Birds maintain the balance of life; they are 

 the police of earth and air. 



On earth: Thrushes (the robin is a thrush), sparrows, 

 larks, wrens. 



In air: Warblers, vireos, creepers, nuthatches, wood- 

 peckers, fly-catchers, swallows. 



What would we do without the aid of these 

 feathered policemen? Will spraying be a substi- 

 tute? Will chemicals? Nearly a thousand million 

 dollars' damage to crops in America, every year, 

 is the answer. Nature sends these policemen; feeds 

 them; always on time and no "graft. '* Who are 

 our common bird poHcemen? Hawks and owls; 

 yes, despite the cooper-hawk and the sharp- 

 shinned hawk and the great homed owl, hawks 

 and owls are among the best policemen of earth 

 and air. Mice, rats, rabbits, moles, flies, noxious 

 insects, innimierable, but fifty species of hawks 

 and thirty-five species of owls are ever after these 



