166 Canadian Record of Science. 



proven to be unmitigatedly injurious. With the decrease 

 of birds at any point is noted an increase of insects, especi- 

 ally of kinds injurious to agriculture. The relation of birds 

 to agriculture has been studied as yet but imperfectly ; but 

 results could be cited which would go far to substantiate the 

 above statement of their general utility. The investigation 

 of the subject has now been systematically entered upon by 

 the department of agriculture at Washington, under the 

 supervision of experts especially fitted for the work. 



"Birds, considered aesthetically, are among the most grace- 

 ful in movement and form, and the most beautiful and attrac- 

 tive in coloration, of nature's many gifts to man. Add to 

 this their vivacity, their melodious voices and unceasing 

 activity, — charms shared in only small degree by any other 

 forms of life, — and can we well say that we are prepared to 

 see them exterminated in behalf of fashion, or to gratify a 

 depraved taste ? Says a recent writer, ■ A garden without 

 flowers, childhood without laughter, an orchard without 

 blossoms, a sky without color, roses without perfume, are 

 the analogues of a country without song-birds. And the 

 United States are going straight and swift into that desert 

 condition.' 



" Indeed, as previously noted, there is already an encour- 

 aging recognition of that fact. Here and there bird-pro- 

 tective associations are being formed, and more care is taken 

 to secure proper bird-protective legislation ; but the public 

 at large is still too apathetic, or too ignorant of the real state 

 of the case, to insist upon, and support by proper public 

 sentiment, the enforcement of legislative acts already on our 

 statute-books. The American ornithologists' union has 

 moved in the matter by the appointment of a large and 

 active committee on bird-protection, which is at present 

 bending its energies toward the diffusion of information 

 among the people, in the hope of awakening a healthy sen- 

 timent on the subject, and is also working to secure not only 

 more effective and intelligent legislation, but the proper 

 enforcement of the laws enacted in behalf of birds. This, 

 too, notwithstanding a recent writer in a popular magazine 

 characterized ornithologists as being among the worst ene- 



