A M ERICA N ORNITHOL 0G\. 



145 



"The beautiful is as useful as tlie useful"— VICTOR HUGO. 



S a rule I suppose that the artistic is not always con- 

 sidered quite practical, but for the sake of the birds 

 and the beautiful in nature, I wish that farmers in gen- 

 eral were less devoid of it, also less addicted to that too all-prevailing- 

 propensity that impels them to desecrate every fence corner by trim- 

 ming it to the extremities of neatness. The everlasting pruning hook 

 and scythe strikes terror to bird and flower as well as to the hearts of 

 their human devotees. If there were advantages to be gained by this 

 devastation, well and good, for a farmer's lot is none too easy at the 

 best, and one can not blame him for utilizing every inch of his tillable 

 area, but will no artistic sense teach him to leave in nature's hands the 

 inaccessible hillside and corners, the steep ravines and wood-lot bound- 

 aries that are such delights to the feathered folk. The Department of 

 Agriculture has given us convincing evidence of the usefulness of bird 

 neighbors in their economic. relations to us, so why not show them a 

 little gratitude in return by leaving to them such undergrowth that is 

 needed for the security of their young. In many sections of the old 

 world, the farmers plant common cherries and lower grades of small 

 fruits in order to induce the birds to locate near their farms, appreciat- 

 ing the benefit they will derive from the destruction of the enemies of 

 their cultivated fruits. Since we are, as a nation becoming so conspic- 

 uous as defenders of the oppressed, why not exhibit a little of our ben- 

 eficent charity to the natives of the soil? 



An incident occurred last summer that is illustrative of the attitude 

 of the farmers in general. I chanced upon one of the workmen on a 

 neighboring farm who was cutting down a great tangle of bitter sweet, 

 that overhung a steep hill side overgrown with underbrush, and which 

 had encroached upon the cultivated land for perhaps ten feet. The 



