4 
Economic ornithology has been defined as the “study of birds from the stand¬ 
point of dollars and cents.” It treats of the direct relations of birds to man, show¬ 
ing which species are beneficial and which injurious, teaching the agriculturist how 
to protect his feathered friends and guard against the attacks of his foes. This is 
a subject in which we are only just beginning to acquire exact knowledge, but it 
is none the less deserving of a place in our educational system on this account. Its 
practical value is recognized both by individual States and by the National Gov¬ 
ernment, which appropriate considerable sums of money for investigations of value 
to agriculture. Much good work has been done by some of the experiment stations 
and State boards of agriculture, particularly in Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, 
Michigan, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. In the United States Department of 
Agriculture, the Division of Biological Survey (formerly the Division of Orni¬ 
thology) devotes much attention to the collection of data respecting the geographic 
distribution, migration, and food of birds, and to the publication and diffusion 
of information concerning species which are beneficial or injurious to agriculture. 
Some of the results of these investigations are of general interes t, and could be 
used in courses of instruction in even the lower schools. Such facts would thus 
reach a larger number of persons than is now possible, and would be made more 
generally available to those interested in them. 
If illustrations of the practical value of a knowledge of zoology are necessary 
they can easily be given. It has been estimated recently that the forests and 
streams of Maine are worth more than its agricultural resou rces. If this is so, 
is it not equally as important to teach the best means of preserving the 
timber, the game, and the fish, as it is to teach students how to develop the agri¬ 
cultural wealth of the State ? In 1885 Pennsylvania passed its famous “ scalp act,’» 
and in less than two years expended between $75,000 and $100,000 in an attempt to 
rid the State of animals and birds supposed to be injurious. A large part of the 
money was spent for killing hawks and owls, most of which belonged to species 
which were afterwards shown to be actually beneficial. Not only was money 
thrown away in a useless war against noxious animals, but the State actually paid for 
the destruction of birds of inestimable value to its farmers. During the last five or 
six years two States have been engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to exterminate 
English sparrows by paying bounties for their heads. Michigan and Illinois 
have each spent more than $50,000, but, although millions of sparrows have been 
killed, the decrease in numbers is hardly perceptible. A more general knowledge 
of the habits of the English sparrow at the time the bird was first introduced into 
the United States would not only have saved this outlay of over $100 000, but would 
also have saved many other States from loss due to depredations by sparrows. 
Is it not worth while to do something to protect the birds and prevent their 
destruction before it is too late ? A powerful influence for good can be exerted by 
the schools if the teachers will only interest themselves in the movement, and the 
benefit that will result to the pupils could hardly be attained in any other way at so 
small an expenditure of time. If it is deemed unwise to establish another holiday, 
or it may seem too much to devote one day in the year to a study of birds, the 
exercises of Bird Day might be combined with those of Arbor Day. 
It is believed that Bird Day can be adopted with profit by schools of all grades, 
and the subject is recommended to the thoughtful attention of teachers and 
school superintendents throughout the country, in the hope that they will cooper¬ 
ate with other agencies now at work to prevent the destruction of our native birds. 
T. S. Palmer, 
Approved : Acting Chief of Division. 
Chas. W. Dabney, Jr., 
Acting Secretary of Agriculture. 
Washington, D. C., July 3, 1896. 
