What Birds Do for Us 



One of the first good effects of the Government's 

 scientific investigation of birds, and the consequent 

 whitewashing of bird characters that ensued, was the 

 withdrawal of bounties by many states. Pennsylva- 

 nia, for instance, woke up to realize that her noto- 

 rious "scalp act" had lost her farmers many millions 

 of dollars through the ravages of field mice, because 

 the wholesale slaughter of all hawks and owls, re- 

 gardless of their food and habits, had been systemati- 

 cally encouraged. A little knowledge on the part of 

 legislators, backed by an immense amount of popu- 

 lar ignorance and prejudice against all of the so- 

 called birds of prey, proved to be a very dangerous 

 thing. Even better than the withdrawal of bounties 

 is the action taken by many states to protect the 

 birds. Instead of laying stress upon only the appar- 

 ent evil in nature, as undeveloped pagans did, we 

 are at last putting the emphasis where it rightly be- 

 longs, upon the good. 



THE PARTITION OF APPETITES 



Whoever takes any notice of the birds about us 

 cannot fail to be impressed with the regulation of 

 that department of nature's housekeeping entrusted 

 to them. The labor is so adjusted as to give to each 

 class of birds duties as distinct as a cook's from a 

 chambermaid's. One class of tireless workers is bid- 

 den to sweep the air and keep down the very small 

 gauzy -winged pests such as mosquitoes, gnats, and 

 midges. Swallows dart and skim above shallow 

 water, fields, and marshes ; purple martins circle 

 about our gardens; swifts around the roofs of our 



'73 



