NATURAL HISTORY. 



BIRD PROTECTION. 



JOHN BOYD. 



I have often thou'ght how easily the 

 sportsmen of the world could be turned 

 into traveling missionaries and preach the 

 gospel of bird protection, explaining the 

 benefits to be derived from an economic 

 standpoint. For it cannot be denied that 

 the subject is as interesting to the sports- 

 man as to the farmer and the fruit grower. 



Nearly every boy has a crude idea that 

 birds have some good use in the world. 

 While the details are perhaps wanting, the 

 thought exists, and will bear cultivating. 

 Yet when a boy sees a sparrow hawk 

 pounce on and carry off a song bird, he at 

 once puts the hawk down as an enemy to all 

 that is good; not knowing that the same 

 bird has killed hundreds of mice and in- 

 sects that would eventually destroy all the 

 crops the 'farmer might raise. 



The same boy needs further education, 

 and should be taught that the robbing of 

 birds' nests is as great a crime to the com- 

 munity as the slaughtering of the mature 

 birds. An egg taken is a bird less this 

 year, and perhaps a dozen the next, com- 

 pounding the number, in some cases, many 

 times in one season, according to the times 

 the birds breed each year. We must im- 

 press these facts on the youth of the land, 

 so that our rising generation will know, in 

 living reality, the same songsters as are 

 now around us. 



Not all of us are observers of the fauna 

 of the land, but any person who will give 

 the matter a moment's thought, must realize 

 the importance of the subject, and give the 

 birds credit for the good work they are do- 

 ing for the country.. Much of this work is 

 unseen, but it nevertheless goes on unceas- 

 ingly, and the only thanks or recompense 

 asked is protection. Surely this is a small 

 return for so large a benefit. 



There is not a plant or a tree but has its 

 parasites (the oak alone is said to have over 

 50 enemies) which, if allowed to multiply, 

 would kill it in a few years. The birds' 

 mission is to keep down these insect pests, 

 and maintain the balance of nature. This 

 they do freely and industriously, asking 

 only in return immunity from molestation. 



Seme of our birds, at certain times, seem 

 to prefer fruit and growing grain to an in- 

 sectivorous fare; but the damage they do is 

 infinitely small compared with the good 

 performed during the rest of the year. 



The work of the ornithologist, therefore, 

 is to separate the useful birds from the de- 

 structive, and classify, if necessary, the 

 balance under a neutral heading — that is, 

 where both traits are equal — and publish 

 the facts to the world. 



Let me give a few facts respecting the 

 hawks and owls of Canada and the United 

 States. I pick out this class for the reason 

 that most people put them down as dread- 

 fully destructive, with no redeeming hab- 

 its that might make them worthy of pro- 

 tection. 



I will divide them in 4 groups. 



1st. Wholly beneficial: Rough-legged 

 buzzard, swallow tailed kite, etc. Total 6. 



2d. Chiefly beneficial: Red-tailed hawk,, 

 sparrow hawk, marsh hawk, red-shouldered 

 hawk, barn owl, broad-winged hawk, long- 

 eared owl, short-eared owl, barred owl, 

 great gray owl, screech owl, snowy owl, 

 saw-whet owl, hawk owl, etc. Total 29. 



3d. Beneficial and harmful qualities 

 equal: Bald eagle, golden eagle, great- 

 horned owl, pigeon hawk, etc. Total 7. 



4th. Positively harmful: Goshawk, gyr- 

 falcon, cooper's hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, 

 fish hawk, peregrine falcon. Total 6. 



There are 48 named species, but in this 

 list I have only given the most common of 

 the 42 that are entitled to our protection. 

 I Have enumerated the entirely destruc- 

 tive ones in full, so that all may know them. 

 Of these, 2 may almost be left out, as nei- 

 ther the gyrfalcon or goshawk is plentiful 

 enough to do much harm. A study of other 

 families would show decidedly better re- 

 sults, but I have purposely taken the hawks 

 and owls, as they are usually classed as the 

 " black sheep of the air." Actual and care- 

 ful investigation has proved them a posi- 

 tive benefit to the agriculturist and fruit 

 grower. 



Let those around us get knowledge on 

 the subject, until they can recognize the 

 difference between a friend and a foe; and 

 get rid of the mistaken opinions which have 

 been handed down for generations, and 

 that have caused the premature death of 

 innumerable beneficial birds. 



I hear someone say: "Ornithologists 

 kill birds, and why shouldn't I? " Yes, my 

 friend, they do, but they kill the smallest 

 possible number to enable them to com- 

 plete the study they are engaged in. I have 

 never known one yet to take a bird's life 

 when some scientific good was not to be ac- 

 complished by so doing. Skin and plumage 

 hunters sometimes pose as " naturalists," 

 and their deeds are put down against stu- 

 dents of ornithology. 



Wise legislation is now bringing about a 

 more satisfactory state of things, but it can 

 never stop the foolish shooting of harmless 

 birds, by individuals, unconscious of the 

 damage they are indirectly causing the 

 community at large. _ These we hope to 

 reach through papers like this, and by mak- 

 ing bird protection part of a public school 

 course. 



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