No. 4.] BIRDS AND WOODLANDS. 311 



become injurious wlienever abnormally numerous. Witness 

 the great plagues of field mice in Norwaj^ and the injury 

 caused in our western plains by the prairie hare or so-called 

 jack-rabbit. 



And so, day by day, throughout the year, birds work for 

 the good of the forest. In satisfying their own appetites 

 and providing for their young they guard and protect the 

 trees, which in turn provide them with food and shelter. 

 While feeding on fruit or seed they distribute and sow the 

 seed which shall provide food for future generations of birds. 

 Throughout nature's great plan one organism depends on 

 others, each upon each throughout their num])erless inter- 

 relations ; and he is a wise man who can interfere with this 

 plan, and, by introducing new forces or destroying some of 

 the old, change the scheme without producing disastrous re- 

 sults. Yet we have gone on ])lindly, destroying our native 

 birds. Gunners shoot them right and left ; feather hunters 

 slaughter them ; boys with air rifles and shot guns decimate 

 them ; a million worthless cats are turned loose to prey upon 

 them ; their eggs and young are destroyed at sight by chil- 

 dren, cats and dogs ; if in pay for their valuable services 

 they take a little fruit or grain, the farmer, who should be 

 their best friend, turns upon them and adds to the slaughter. 

 As a result of all this and more, many species of birds are 

 now rare which were formerly abundant. A few are nearly 

 extinct, and some of the larger species have disappeared from 

 the State. Let birds be encouraged and protected from their 

 enemies, and they will reoccupy their former haunts, and 

 there will then be loss necessity for the use of Paris green 

 and other insecticides. 



Native Birds useful in AVoods. 

 For the information of those interested in the subject, lists 

 of birds known to destroy some of the worst enemies of trees 

 are given below. The canker worms are reckoned here as 

 among the forest pests, as they frequently attack elms and 

 other trees in the woods, as well as in fields and along road- 

 sides. The tent cater[)illar is also included, as it is in some 

 seasons very plentiful in the woods, where it attacks first the 

 wild cherry and afterward the birch, and occasionally other 



