Canadian forestry Journal, September, igi6 



727 



Bird Protection in Canada 



Extermination Threatened for Some Valuable Species- 

 Public to be Won by Aesthetic Appeal 



By W. E. 



Birds, in common with all wild 

 life, are reproducing annually in ex- 

 cessive numbers, and the amount of 

 that excess is governed by the 

 amount of destruction that takes 

 place in the individual species un- 

 der consideration. As a general 

 rule it may be stated that the total 

 annual death-rate corresponds al- 

 most exactly with the annual rate of 

 . increase. AVhen it is considered 

 that the annual rate of increase in 

 common birds, such as the robin, is 

 perhaps two. three, or even five hun- 

 dred per cent., it follows that the an- 

 nual death-rate is the same. \\'ere 

 it not so, an enormous increase in the 

 number of these species would take 

 place until eventually they would 

 themselves check their increase by 

 their very abundance. This de- 

 struction takes place in very many 

 ways. The birds migrate, covering 

 thousands of miles, exposing them- 

 selves to very great dangers, often 

 fatal. Besides there are the other 

 fatal conditions to the birds, exclu- 

 sive of migration. 



Aesthetic Importance. 

 While we have in the past given 

 very great consideration and thought 

 to the economic side of bird protec- 

 tion, yet the aesthetic side is equallv 

 worthy, perhaps even more worthy, 

 of consideration than the economic 

 side. A comparatively small pro- 

 portion of the population is interest- 

 ed personally in birds from the eco- 

 nomic side, while there is a large and 

 rapidly increasing number of the 

 residents of Canada and of the civil- 

 ized world who are taking great in- 



Saunders. 



terest in the study of bird life, and 

 this study is of very great benefit to 

 the individual as well as to the na- 

 tion at large. It has a refining in- 

 fluence upon the student and yields 

 an amount of enjoyment which I 

 hesitate to estimate because it is 

 such a personal matter with me. To 

 one who has made a life-long study 

 of birds, it is a very pleasant thing 

 to go into the country and meet at 

 every turn friends whom one knows; 

 it is like going down street and meet- 

 ing all one's most pleasant acquain- 

 tances in one afternoon. 



Domestication of Birds. 



Probably every bird is capable of 

 partial domestication while in the 

 wild state. I was very much inter- 

 ested a couple of years ago at a 

 meeting of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union in a paper by Miss Sher- 

 man on "The Taming of the \\"\\d 

 Humming-bird." I supose the 

 small size of the humming-bird and 

 its almost insect-like character had 

 given me the feeling that it was in- 

 capable of domestication or of know- 

 ing its friends, but she demonstrat- 

 ed that she had domesticated them 

 to some extent. She actually tamed 

 them so that they came and buzzed 

 around her head for food. She be- 

 gan with bottles of syrup hidden in 

 the base of a gaudy artificial flower; 

 from that she progressed to the bare 

 bottle, and the humming-birds came 

 most freely: they quite expected the 

 syrup, and promptly demanded it 

 from her if the bottle were found at 

 any time empty. 



