CHAPTER XXV 

 "LITTLE FEATHERED BROTHERS" 



MUCH as the birds have done to guard 

 the products of the country, they have 

 rendered a still greater service to the 

 world. They have a value that cannot be 

 weighed by abundant crops or verdant woods. 

 It reaches beyond material things. From the 

 earliest times the birds of the air have been an 

 inspiration to the human race. Their influence 

 has come down through the ages. 



Before the days of the white man the Indians 

 watched and marvelled at the ways of their 

 "little feathered brothers," and the influence of 

 the birds upon them is shown in their legends 

 and in the speeches of many of their great 

 chiefs. 



The influence of the birds upon the white 

 man on this continent dates back from the first 

 voyage of Columbus. Had it not been for the 

 land birds that passed them his discouraged 

 men might have forced him to turn back when 



almost ir sight of land. 

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