Fifty Common Birds of China 



WHY STUDY BIRDS ? 



Every wide-awake boy should be interested in birds. Their interesting 

 ways, delightful colors, and charming songs make them loved by all. 

 Besides these inducements for bird study, sufficient as they are, many 

 other are held out to the enthusiastic bird student. 



A very important reward for the bird observer is the training in 

 observation and keen vision. One who is interested in birds and used to 

 their ways will often see birds th.t are unnoticed by one who has never 

 cultivated this ability, recognizing by a flash of color, a peculiarity in 

 flight, a momentary glimpse of a darting form, a rustle in the grass, or 

 a note from the hidden depths of a thicket, the presence of a feathered 

 friend that to others is non-existant. 



One who studies birds will also receive splendid training in patience, 

 for hasty and bungling actions will very effectively prevent successful bird 

 study. To see birds at their best one must chcose, in the early morning 

 or the cool of the evening a spot frequented by birds and then quietly 

 wait for them to show themselves. Birds are full of curiosity, so that 

 if one flies into a thicket it will be almost sure to reappear if the 

 observer can restrain its impatience and remain still. We must allow the 

 birds to present themselves to us rather tlaan try to force ourselves upon 

 them. 



And then, until we have studied the matter we cannot realize the 

 actual worth of the birds to us In an economic sense. In one of the 

 states In America, with an area equal to that of Kwangsl Province, the 

 value of the birds was estimated at ^1735.00 (gold) per day during the 

 growing season of plants, because of the injurious insects that they de- 

 stroyed. When we realize that the Injurious insects take at least ten per- 

 cent of each agricultural crop, the importance of birds is plain. China 

 has at present large number of birds to protect her crops against the 

 swarms of insects that would destroy them, but unless something is done 

 at once to stop the slaughter of innocent song and Insect-eating birds, 



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