A Plea for the Birds 309 



did not heed the ridicule. To-day there are any 

 number of societies in the United States formed for 

 the purpose of protecting the birds and propagat- 

 ing bird life. Men of intellect are making it a 

 life study, cities and towns have passed a law 

 making it a crime to kill certain birds except dur- 

 ing a few weeks each year, and boys abounding in 

 superfluous energy are working off that energy 

 by making bird houses instead of scouring the 

 country with the intent to rob birds' nests. If 

 John James Audubon were living to-day he would 

 certainly feel much gratified over the fruits of his 

 labors. 



Birds in the garden are profitable, notwith- 

 standing the claim that they eat the garden seed. 

 They may eat a few flower seed but they also eat 

 seeds of weeds, though they will not eat very many 

 of either for the reason that they will be spending 

 their time in search of bugs and worms which 

 would otherwise do great injury to the plants. 

 The following quotation is an extract from a re- 

 port on the destroying power of birds over insects: 



"A quail taken in a cotton field in Texas had 

 the remains of 127 cotton boll-weevils in its 

 craw. Another, taken in Pennsylvania, had 

 101 potato-bugs. 



"A tree-swallow's stomach was found to 



