8 Wyoming Experiment Station. 



you \vill create a desire to study something else. It is a health- 

 ful exercise, it will keep your boys in good company and pre- 

 vent them from looking up some less helpful recreation, as 

 well as stimulate them for greater exertions. The university 

 will always be very glad to assist any one in starting upon this 

 subject in the way of giving advice, identifying birds or recom- 

 mending the best publications for the various lines of work. 



Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture. 



There are as a rule only a few persons in each vicinity 

 that pay any attention to birds. Some note their beauty, oth- 

 ers their song, while the vast majority ask the question — are 

 they good to eat? In case they are not, then they are con- 

 sidered as valueless and it matters not whether they receive 

 any attention from man or not. While there are many species 

 of birds that are valuable for food, the part they play in the 

 economy of an agricultural or grazing region is insignificant 

 as compared with the numerous other species that act as an 

 army to keep down insect pests, or destroy troublesome goph- 

 ers, mice and prairie dogs. On account of the great benefit 

 that is to be derived from birds taken as a whole, I take great 

 pleasure in publishing the following article which was written 

 by Prof. Laurence Bruner of the University of Nebraska, and 

 published in the proceedings of the second annual meeting of 

 the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, pp. 18-29, 1901, under 

 the title, "Birds in Their Relation To Agriculture." 



"When civilized man takes possession of new regions and 

 begins cultivating the soil and establishes his sovereignty 

 there, the equilibrium as it existed upon his arrival is very 

 quickly disturbed. One or more of the many forms of life, 

 plant and animal, that were previously held within certain lim- 

 its gain ascendency. The introduction of new crops that furn- 



