196 Conservation Reader 



Did you ever think that, it is possible, that it is indeed 

 likely, that many of these beautiful creatures wiU leave us 

 for all time if we do not treat them kindly and give them 

 every protection in our power? Did you ever think of 

 all the enemies that are constantly on the watch for the 

 birds, — the thoughtless boy who robs their nests, the angry 

 farmer who mistakenly beUeves they injure him, the hunter 

 who thinks only of how good they taste, the sleek cat lying 

 so innocently by your fireside, which loves a bird above 

 everything else, and last of all, the blue jay, butcher bird, 

 and some of the hawks and owls? 



To realize how our home would seem without birds, let 

 us take an imaginary journey far across the water to " sunny 

 Italy." Here you will rarely hear bird music upon spring 

 mornings, unless it be that of some poor caged creature. 

 If you will walk through the country, you will see few birds 

 where once they must have been abundant. But upon 

 every hoHday you will see the fields filled with hunters, who 

 with keen eyes are watching for any stray birds that have 

 happened to stop on their journey across the country to 

 rest and to hunt worms or taste a bit of fruit. The Italian 

 does not know the good the birds do his garden and that it 

 would be the part of wisdom for him to let them have a Uttle 

 of his corn and fruit. 



We will now journey to Spain and learn something about 

 the treatment of our bird friends there. This country was 

 once rich and prosperous. From it came many of the 

 early explorers of our own land. The people of the central 

 highlands of Spain never loved to hear the birds sing, be- 

 cause they were always thinking of the grain which the 

 birds took. Thinking to save their crops, they not only 



