B ONOMK ORNIT1IOLOG 7 



Indies, and the ral>l >it in Australia, dearly chow that <>tir attcmpU to 

 improve upon Nature mu-t U ilin-< t-|. nut ly haphazard niftb'*!*, 

 1'iit by knowledge gained through a careful -tn.lv of Nature's laws. 



Few persons realize the value of birds to man. They are the 

 natural check upon the increase of insect life. r.n-i.l-r the incal- 

 culable number of insects destroyed by the birds which |NUM the 

 greater part of each day hunting through our lawns, orchards, fi.-l.l-. 

 and woods for the pest* that destroy vegetation. Of almost equal im- 

 portance are the birds of prey whose food consists largely of the small 

 rodents which an> amoii^ th>- farmer's worst enemies. Indeed, it is 

 not too much to say that without birds the earth would not long be 

 habitable, 



As yet we are on the threshold of an exact knowledge of the value 

 of birds to man; but let us cite one easily demonstrable case where 

 ignorance of birds' habits resulted in direct |H>ciiniury loss. (Quoting 

 from the report for 1886 of Dr. ('. Mart Mcrriam, Ornithologist and 

 Mammalogist of the United States Department of Agriculture: "On 

 the 23d of June, 1885, the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed an act 

 known as the 'scalp act,' ostensibly 'for the benefit of agriculture,' 

 which provides a bounty of fifty cents each on hawks, owls, weasels, 

 and minks killed within the limits of the State, and a fee of twenty 

 cents to the notary or justice taking the affidavit. 



" By virtue of this act about $90,000 has been paid in boi; 

 during the year ami a half that has elapsed since the law went into 

 effect. This represents the destruction of at least 128,571 of the 

 above-mentioned animals, most of which wen- hawks ami owls. 



"Granting that 5,000 chickens are killed annually in IVnn-ylvania 

 by hawks and owls, and that they are worth twenty-five cents each (a 

 liberal estimate in view of the fact that a large proportion of them are 

 killed when very young), the total loss would he 1.2"0. ami the poultry 

 killed in a year and a half would be worth $1,875. Hence it appears 

 that during the past eighteen months the State of Pennsylvania has 

 xpcmled $90,000 to save its fanners a loss of $1,875. But this esti- 

 mate by no means represents the actual loss to the farmer ami the tax- 

 payer of the State. It is within bounds to say that in the course of a 

 year every hawk and owl destroys at least a thousand mice or their 

 equivalent in insects, and that each mouse or its equivalent so de- 

 stroyed would cause the farmer a loss of two cents per annum. There- 

 fore, omitting all reference to the enormous increase in the numbers 

 of these noxious animals when Nature's mean-* .f hoMing them in 

 check has been removed, the lowest possible estimate of the value to 

 the farmer of each hawk, owl, and weasel would be $20 a year, or $80 

 in a year and a half. 



