PREFACE. 



The birds of any State are of more importance to its citizens than 

 are any of the other vertebrates. It is not their value as food, since 

 the game birds are few in number and are shot mainly for sport, but 

 their value as destroyers of insects, that demands our attention. 



In nature's scheme birds are one of the greatest checks on the in- 

 crease of insect life, and were they to be removed and the balance 

 upset, noxious insects would increase at such a rate that all crops and 

 all vegetation would be threatened with extermination. Anyone fa- 

 miliar with the ravages of the Gypsy Moth, the Migratory Grasshop- 

 per, and other similar pests, can realize what insects can accomplish 

 when they get beyond control, and when we realize that one Chickadee 

 eats in one day 30 female canker worms, which would have laid 5,550 

 eggs, and that one Meadow Lark devours at least 1,500 grasshoppers 

 a month,* we begin to realize what disaster we should face were our 

 birds destroyed. 



Our birds, moreover, need protection, since nearly every activity of 

 man tends to their destruction. Aside from the actual killing of birds, 

 which is governed by law; the destruction of forests; the alteration 

 of rural districts into villages and towns; the draining of swamps; 

 clearing away of underbrush, etc., etc., all indirectly affect bird life, 

 driving many species away, and decreasing the numbers of others by 

 reducing the area available to them. 



The best method of protecting the birds is to increase the interest 

 in birds and bird study among the citizens of the State, especially in 

 schools, for the more school children who are made familiar with the 

 value of bird protection, the easier will it be to ensure good legislation 

 in the future, and to enforce this legislation when enacted. 



For this purpose the present report has been prepared. The aim 

 has been to present keys and descriptions that will enable anyone to 



* Actual results of investigation of birds' stomachs by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. 



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