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The Government of the Philippine Islands 
Department of the Interior 
BUREAU OF SCIENCE 
Manila 
BIRDS IN THEIR ECONOMIC RELATION TO MAN 
By Richard C. McGregor 
( Ornithologist, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.) 
INTRODUCTION 
It is generally realized that birds are important and valu¬ 
able to man from an esthetic standpoint, as a source of food, 
in carrying the seeds of certain fruits and grains to places 
where they have never been known, and as an incentive 
to outdoor sport. However, their greatest value is in their 
efficient control of weeds, snakes, small mammals such as 
rats and mice, and insects that eat and destroy our plants 
and trees. 
It is the purpose of this Bulletin to suggest how we may 
recognize the value of our birds by studying and protecting 
them; it is also the purpose to emphasize some of the more 
important benefits which the Filipino people may derive 
from an appreciation of their wild birds and from an in¬ 
creased interest in them. As an evidence that there is 
developing an interest in this subject among the Filipino 
people, it might be stated that the recent Agricultural 
Congress of the Philippine Islands indorsed the work now 
being undertaken by the Bureau of Science in ascertaining 
what birds are helpful to agriculture, either in destroying 
injurious insects or in eating the seeds of plants which are 
a pest to crops. The Secretary of the Agricultural Con¬ 
gress, Sr. Augusto Gonzales, very kindly called the attention 
of the Bureau of Science to an experience of his own in 
1 Issued December 29, 1915. Bureau of Science press bulletin No. 
, 32, revised. 
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