358 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



June is the month when by far the largest number of 

 birds of all species are raising their young. It is the 

 month when insect life abounds, when the weather is 

 mild, when storms are few, the month, by all odds, the 

 most propitious for the birds to undertake to increase 

 their numbers. It is a month, however, when probably 

 the largest number of birds are killed, should we take 

 into account all of the young that meet an untimely 



VESPER SPARROWS NEST 



The nest and eggs of the vesper sparrow, showing another stage in the 

 nest-building instinct where the depression is well lined with 

 grasses. 



death, and the month when we should do everything we 

 can to reduce the numbers of their enemies. 



The maternal instinct, which knows not fear, brings 

 many a mother bird into the claws of a marauding cat 

 or makes it an attractive target for the untrained boy or 

 the untutored foreigner with slingshot or gun. When 

 the young birds first leave the nest they are just learning 

 to fly and they perish by the hundreds from storms and 

 from scarcity of food. 15ut chief among all the agents 

 of destruction is the stray cat and second we must put 

 the well-fed cat. Every cat is naturally a bird catcher 

 and those that are not sufficiently active to catch grown 

 birds find an easy prey in the newly fledged young. It 

 is during the early hours of the morning that most young 

 take their initial flight and it is at such times that the 

 cats go unrestrained. Every owner of a cat, every cat 

 lover, and every bird lover should see to it that during 

 this month, at least, cats with homes are kept indoors, 

 caged, or tethered and that every stray, ownerless cat 

 is captured and mercifully put out of the way. We can 

 do a great deal toward increasing our native birds by at- 

 tracting them to our gardens, with food, water and nest- 

 ing boxes, but unless we feel some responsibility toward 

 protecting them from this unnecessary and very danger- 

 ous enemy, the cat. it will not avail. 



RESOLUTIONS ON FORESTRY 



AT the conference of the Sixth National Conservation 

 Congress, in Washington, D. C, early in May, the 

 11 Forestry Committee presented the following reso- 

 lutions: 



Whereas, The conservation of our natural resources, 

 the perpetuation of our forests, the regulation of our 

 waters, and the development of agriculture are of vital 

 importance for the highest national efficiency, commer- 

 cial independence, and permanent prosperity to the 

 American people, and are fundamental to true pre- 

 paredness, be it 



Resolved, That it is the sense of this Congress that 

 public control of all of our natural resources by Nation, 

 State and communities should be extended ; and 



Whereas, All the desirable influence of the forests in 

 the mountainous regions, especially water regulation, are 

 best conserved by public ownership, be it 



Resolved, That the area of National, State, and com- 

 munal forests be extended to include ultimately all such 

 mountainous lands as are essential in the conservation of 

 water and are more suitable for timber production than 

 agriculture. 



The Resolutions Committee of the conference recom- 

 mended the following resolutions: 



Whereas, In this great nation the forests are being 

 consumed much more rapidly than they are growing, and 



Whereas, An abundant supply of wood material is 

 essential to the continued prosperity and strength of the 

 nation whether at peace or at war, and 



Whereas, Under an act of Congress approved March 

 1, 1911, popularly known as "the Weeks Act," purchases 

 have been made at the headwaters of navigable streams, 

 particularly in the White Mountains and Southern Appa- 

 lachians, with the view to controlling the flood waters in 

 all of the great rivers that rise within them, including 

 the head waters of the Ohio River, therefore be it 



Resolved, That the National Conservation Congress 

 requests its members throughout the country to favor the 

 continuation of this policy without cessation, and urges 

 the Congress of the United States to reappropriate dut> 

 ing the present session the three million dollars for this 

 purpose that were appropriated in 1911, but which were 

 not used at that time. 



We reaffirm the principle heretofore enunciated by the 

 National Conservation Congress to the effect that as 

 conservative forest management and reforestation bj 

 private owners are very generally discouraged or pre- 

 vented by our methods of forest taxation, we recommend 

 state legislation to secure the most moderate taxation 

 of forest lands consistent with justice, and taxation of 

 the forest crop upon such lands only when the crop is 

 harvested and returns revenue wherewith to pay the 

 taxes. 



