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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



that with a few exceptions, these birds prefer small 

 animals of the fields, such as rabbits and mice. So 

 prejudice against them is slowly being overcome. 



However, the protection of birds insures a return of 

 two-fold value to the protectors. If for no other reason, 

 most birds should be protected for the beauty, music and 

 companionship which they offer the world. 



To the agriculturist, be he farmer, truckman or fruit 

 grower, the practical value of birds should be sufficient 

 reason for his protection. Birds are known to eat quan- 

 tities of destructive insects such as chinch bugs and 

 beetles, and the larvae of same. Birds are attracted to 

 fields, pastures and orchards if they are fed and un- 

 molested; and they very soon lose their timidity at the 

 approach of humans. Many birds will make their homes 

 in birdhouses provided for them by man. City dwellers 

 are not exempt from assuming a share of the protection 

 of birds, for the trees and shrubbery about their houses, 

 along the streets and in the parks suffer from the ravages 

 of insects quite as much as rural vegetation. 



Efficient state laws as a means of protection, have been 

 slow in coming. When the study of agriculture as a 

 science was introduced in this country about forty years 

 ago it gradually exposed the relationship that exists 

 between it and birds. Their food habits were discovered 

 and their great value realized. Game birds were pro- 

 tected in the early part of the nineteenth century ; but 

 small birds were not given a legal standing until later. 

 Every state now has bird laws, but they are not uniform 

 the country over. The prohibition of Sunday shooting, 

 and the requirements of gun licenses in almost all the 

 states, have done much toward eliminating the wholesale 

 destruction of birds ; but proper laws must be based upon 

 and supported by the opinion of an enlightened public. 

 Laws in many states forbidding the trapping of song- 

 birds for pets, are leaving many more to enjoy their 

 free state. Without doubt, more effective results can 

 be secured through dissemination of knowledge con- 

 cerning birds. People can always be found who are glad 

 to hear and read interesting facts about birds. To give 

 everyone the opportunity, able writers and lecturers can 

 be called upon to contribute to the press and lecture plat- 

 form information on the relation of birds to man. Per- 

 haps the public school can get more far-reaching results, 

 by using a short period each week in systematic study of 

 the birds of their localities, in observance of Bird Day 

 and in organizing bird clubs. Teachers can make their 

 efforts felt outside the schools through the children, by 

 distributing government publications on the subject and 

 by posting bird laws. This general instruction will not 

 only give information on birds that are favorites, but 

 will remove much prejudice concerning some of the less 

 favored. There should be no doubt in the minds of 

 clear thinking people that protection of birds in general 

 affords increased pleasure of living. 



The beauty of plumage gives pleasure to the eye train- 

 ed to artistic appreciation ; beauty of song cheers the 

 unhappy and creates added pleasure for the happy; and 



birds in general furnish companionship for the lonely. 

 For the farmer whose mind is necessarily concerned with 

 crops and their financial returns, the protection of birds 

 results in increased yield through the diminution of 

 insect life. Increased yield means increased profits, and 

 they in turn provide more efficient means for education, 

 health and contentment, the combination of which spells 

 happiness for the possessor. 



THE OYSTER TREE 



HPHE following good old story, published in the Morn- 

 ing Courier and New Fork Enquirer for the County, 

 in its edition of November 20, 1829, has been sent in by 

 Mr. Lott Van de Water, Jr., Secretary of the Agricul- 

 tural Society of Mineola, L. I., N. Y. 



"On a branch of the main river of Tomboz, in Peru, a 

 singular appearance is presented by the oysters which 

 line its banks. The reader has heard of that extraordi- 

 nary tree in Numington, so large that a coach and horses 

 can be driven with ease through its hollow trunk! of 

 that wide spreading oak of Nismes, said to cover an 

 acre of ground! as also of the far famed Upas, so 

 baneful in its effects that instant death would attend the 

 temerity of that traveller who should approach within 

 five miles of it, and whose vicinage is covered with the 

 dead bodies of the animals, reptiles, birds, and insects 

 which have, ventured within the sphere of its contagious 

 influence ! But has he ever heard of the oyster tree ! 

 a tree on which oysters were the fruit? -Nay, start not 

 gentle reader. This branch of the main river that I have 

 been speaking of is so lined with trees and underwood, 

 as almost to exclude the rays of the sun. The branches 

 of the trees, like the weeping willow, grow downward ; at 

 high water, the tide rising and falling six or seven feet 

 every twelve hours, and overwhelming the low-lands, 

 these branches become partly immersed. Thousands of 

 oysters attached themselves to them, and at low tide they 

 are seen suspended several feet above water, and pre- 

 sent a curious spectacle. We plucked two boat loads of 

 this species of marine fruit, which, though small, nearly 

 equalled those of the Chesapeake." Voyage to South 

 America in 1823. 



[A similar phenomenon may be witnessed on the 

 Island of Jakel, situated in the mouth of the Alatamaha 

 River in Georgia. The civil, or sour orange tree, abounds 

 on the margin of the Island, the branches of which fall- 

 ing into the river, are acted upon in the same manner, as| 

 that of the tree above described ; and what may be thought 

 to add to the curiosity is, that the upright branches o 

 the tree are frequently found abounding in their natur 

 fruit, while those prostrate in the flood are supportir 

 their marine adoption.] 



