ENEMIES OF THE BIRDS 



We have been led to believe that the life of the bird is 

 happy and free. That idea needs some revision and decided 

 modification before it is accepted. All of the time devoted to 

 nest-building, incubation and the rearing of the young is filled 

 writh hard labor, solicitous care and threatening danger to the 

 birds. In nest-building, proper materials must be sought out 

 and carried long distances before they are available for use. 

 When the construction of the nest is complete, the strain of 

 incubation follows. Soon the open mouths of the young keep 

 the parent-birds busy from daylight to dark for several weeks 

 in the effort to fill them. While these labors are being per- 

 formed the parent-birds and their young are constantly sur- 

 rounded by a swarm of persistent and subtle enemies who never 

 throughout the entire season cease from their attempts to kill 

 and devour. 



The worst enemy of the birds is min. He who ought to 

 be their best friend and stoutest defender has always 

 slaughtered them without mercy. As reckless sportsman or 

 thoughtless boy, he goes out to hunt. Failing to find game, 

 the gun is often turned upon the song birds and one or more 

 lie dead at his feet. Lacking the gun, the boy throws stones at 

 the birds, often too well aimed, and a bird falls lifeless to the 

 ground. Both man and boy are unmindful of the fact that the 

 death of one bird may mean the starvation of a half-dozen baby- 

 birds in a neighboring nest. 



Fashion comes next in killing birds. The craze among 

 milliners for novelty and profit has destroyed millions of song- 

 birds. When profits are at stake, it is easy to understand how 

 sympathy and kindness may be set aside ; but how women and 



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