42 



THE UTILITY OF FORESTS. 



in the distribution of nut-bearing trees. The moles and shrews 

 are insectivorous and may be of considerable benefit to forests 

 in destroying the larvae that infest nuts often to such an ex- 

 tent that none of them will germinate. The injury done by 

 various mammals in gnawing and scratching the bark from 

 young trees in the forest, and in breaking their branches, is 

 negligible. The mammals, however, have a great value aside 

 from their direct relation to forests — either as enemies or 

 friends — as interesting objects for observation and study and 

 for their valuable food and fur. The forest as a hiding place 

 and home for mammals, then, is the most important considera- 

 tion in this connection. 



The value of birds — particularly migratory birds — is forci- 

 bly brought out in the quotation given below : 



'*We know that trees are subject to many injuries by rea- 

 son of the undue multiplication of the animals that feed upon 

 them. The foliage is devoured by insects and other animals; 

 the fruit and seeds by insects^ birds, and squirrels; the twigs 

 are killed by borers or girdlers ; the bark is eaten by mice, hares, 

 squirrels, or porcupines; the trunks are attacked by wood- 

 borers, the roots have insect enemies ; even the very life blood, 

 the sap, is sucked out by aphids. When we consider well the 

 fecundity, voracity, and the consequent great possibilities for 

 mischief possessed by their enemies^ we wonder that trees 

 survive at all. Still, trees spring up and grow apace. In a 

 wooded country a few years of neglect of field and pasture suf- 

 fices to clothe them with a growth of bushes and saplings, and 

 in time a woodlot succeeds the cleared land. That trees are 

 able thus to spring up and grow to maturity without man's 

 care is sufficient evidence that they are protected by their nat- 

 ural friends from the too injurious inroads of their natural 

 enemies. Among these friends birds hold a high place. 



■ ''It is generally believed that there are few birds in the 

 deep woods. Travelers have often remarked the scarcity of 

 birds in the forest. It is true that usually there are fewer birds, 

 both in numbers of species and individuals, in most northern 

 forests than in more open or cultivated lands. This is particu- 

 larly true of coniferous forests, for such woods harbor fewer 



