THE RELATIONS OF BIRDS TO MAN. 7 



supplying us with down by the eider-ducks ; another, the 

 scavenger value of buzzards and vultures in our Southern 

 States, as well as of gulls in the harbors of our cities ; and 

 yet another, the indication of shoals of fish by the presence 

 of gulls, as along our Atlantic coast. 



Next in importance to the direct economic value of this 

 bird life to our towns-people should be considered its value as 

 an object of study and interesting recreation. Many people 

 find in the birds a subject of constant interest in which they 

 are kept out-of-doors in the health-giving atmosphere of our 

 coastal region, finding always something to occupy and tran- 

 quillize the mind. With the modern devices for such study, 

 — the splendid field-glasses, the improved long-distance cam- 

 eras, the tents for close-range observations, — together with 

 the constantly increasing number who are being attracted to 

 it through the schools and the fascinating bird-books of later 

 years, the class of people who thus find in the observation 

 . of bird-life a delightful pastime is certain to increase rapidly. 



And there are many people with no special liking for 

 natural history studies who yet appreciate the value of birds 

 in ministering to man's love of beauty. To these the sight 

 of a brilliant humming-bird poised before a flower, of a 

 yellow warbler among the apple-blossoms, or of a splendid 

 heron beside the rippling waters is a memory to be cherished 

 certainly as much as the sight of a great masterpiece of paint- 

 ing or sculpture created by human genius. 



There is also another relation the birds of Durham bear 

 to its human inhabitants. In the woods everywhere ruffed 

 grouse are plentiful ; in the low swales woodcock, and in the 

 wet meadows Wilson's snipe are not uncommon ; along the 

 bay shores and by the marshes plover of various sorts are 

 often found ; on the waters of the bay wild ducks and wild 

 geese are abundant during the fall migration. All of these 

 birds afford those inhabitants who enjoy legitimate sport an 

 opportunity for invigorating days of hunting, as well as a cer- 



