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Bird - Lore 



This means that a man with a cherry tree, 

 a gun, and an appetite for Robin potpie could 

 kill and eat during their nesting-season all 

 of the parent Robins within a large radius of 

 his place and allow their nestlings to die a 

 lingering death of starvation in their nests on 

 our trees and window-sills. 



From March until June the Robins, with 

 the assistance of other species working just 

 as hard, scour the gardens, fields, and forests 

 clean of destructive insect life and make pos- 

 sible our small-fruit crops. Yet in June, when 

 the parent birds attempt to collect for their 

 nestful of hungry babies their tithe of cherries 

 and berries, which they had an indispensable 

 share in raising, they meet with a very dif- 

 ferent reception from the one to which they 

 are entitled. The small-fruit raiser who was 

 glad to welcome them in February and happy 

 to see them toiling so industriously in March, 

 April, and May, combating insect plagues, 

 now regards them as robbers and greets them 

 with shotguns. 



How about the nestlings of the Robins 

 whose lives are snuffed out in the second 

 which holds the roar of a shotgun and whose 

 only crime was that the Creator made it 

 necessary for them to have some fruit for 

 themselves and their babies as a change of 

 diet? Have you ever seen a nestful of young 

 birds, accustomed to being fed every few 

 minutes become orphans? The least rustle 

 of a leaf or movement of a twig causes them 

 to chirp, stretch their necks, and open their 

 mouths to the fullest extent in expectation of 

 being fed. As time passes, they gradually 

 become weaker and weaker until they are no 

 longer able to lift their heads. Calling with 

 sad, weak voices on the parents who never 

 come, they gradually die a lingering death of 

 starvation. 



We who erect bird-houses, feed the birds 

 in the winter, take bird-hikes for study and 

 recreation in the summer, and enjoy their 

 companionship must not abandon them in 

 this emergency. We must be aroused to 

 plant fruit-bearing shrubbery and trees for 

 our feathered friends. We must not be 

 slackers! 



On the passage of the Federal Migratory 

 Bird Law, a few people interested in our wild- 

 life, foreseeing the increase in birds, advo- 

 cated the planting of fruit trees for them, so 

 they would not become nuisances. For many 

 years, the Game Commission, sportsmen, 

 Boy Scouts, and school children of Pennsyl- 

 vania have been planting mulberry and sweet 

 cherry trees for the birds and nuts for the 

 squirrels. They have planted hundreds of 

 thousands. 



Our birds prefer the fruit of the mulberry 

 to that of the cherry, as it is sweeter and the 

 glutinous seeds are easily digested, especially 

 by young birds. Years ago, the wild mul- 

 berry was plentiful but has been commercial- 

 ized and destroyed by man. The Russian 

 mulberry, a small tree costing but a few cents, 

 is a good substitute. It is a beautiful shade 

 tree with fine foliage and smooth bark, a 

 prolific bearer, and will grow almost 

 anywhere. The fruit ripens about the same 

 time as early cherries and berries bear- 

 ing continuously from about the first of June 

 to the first of September — a mature tree will 

 feed hundreds of birds. They prefer the mul- 

 berry to all other fruits, consequently it is of 

 great protecton to the fruit-raisers. Dr. 

 Kalbfus, the late Secretary of the Game Com- 

 mission of Pennsylvania, one morning, in less 

 than an hour counted twenty-two species of 

 birds feeding on a mulberry tree. 



Fellow members of the Audubon Society, 

 let us plant bird trees — millions of trees, 

 dedicating at least half the fruit to the birds. 

 Let us interest our children in planting bird 

 trees as well as erecting bird-houses — this is 

 the foundation of conservation. Let us ask 

 our various state forestry departments to 

 raise seedling Russian mulberries in their 

 many nurseries and send them to our schools 

 by parcel post. Let us work in a sustained drive 

 to save the lives of our birds. A tree for a 

 life! That's what it means! Then let us plant 

 trees for our feathered friends, that they may 

 be saved for future generations. 



"Trees that may in summer wear 

 Nests of Robins in their hair." 



John M. Phillips. 



