A HANDBOOK * OF THE 

 BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA 



INTRODUCTION 



WHY WE SHOULD STUDY BIRDS 



A WORD TO THE BEGINNER 



THE STUDY OF BIRDS IN NATURE 



CHAPTER I 

 WHY WE SHOULD STUDY BIRDS 



Birds occupy a fourfold relation to man: an economic, esthetic, 

 what may be termed a mythological or symbolic, and a scientific rela- 

 tion. 



Birds are Nature's most potent checks upon the undue increase 

 of noxious insects and harmful rodents; they devour the seeds of weeds 

 and act as scavengers. The more we learn of their food habits, the 

 greater becomes the realization of our indebtedness to them, and 

 economic ornithologists now agree that, without the services rendered 

 by birds, the ravages of the animals they prey upon would render the 

 earth uninhabitable. 



Birds, however, not only make life upon the globe possible, but 

 they may add immeasurably to our enjoyment of it. Where in all 

 animate nature shall we find so marvelous a combination of beauty 

 of form and color, of grace and power of motion, of musical ability 

 and intelligence, to delight our eyes, charm our ears and appeal to 

 our imagination? 



To the birds' mastery of the air, to their mysterious appearances 

 and disappearances occasioned by migration, to the weird or peculiar 

 character of their notes, as well as to their human-like characteristics, 

 we may doubtless attribute the influence they have exerted on the mind 

 of primitive man. This is shown in a thousand myths and legends 

 investing the bird with supernatural powers, and in savage art and 

 symbolism, and is reflected in the folk-lore of a later day. It is not 

 surprising, therefore, that civilized man should devote especial atten- 

 tion to creatures possessed of such unusual interest, studying their 

 origin and relationships, their distribution in time and space, their 

 migrations, their nesting habits, their form and color, and all the details 



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