SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
423 
which defoliate the fruit and shade trees. The Sparrow 
Hawk has been wrongly named, for it eats a thousand 
times as many grasshoppers .as it does sparrows. The 
Chickadees, Brown Creepers, and many of the Warblers 
feed largely upon insects and insect eggs which they 
glean chiefly from the trees. The Rose-breasted Gros- 
beak and the Bob-White eat the Colorado potato-beetle. 
In the West the Franklin’s Gull follows the farmer in 
the fields and picks up great numbers of destructive 
insects. 
In learning the value of our feathered friends it is 
necessary to learn to know the birds, and in this quest 
great help can be obtained from books. Beginners will 
find the following useful : 
"Land Birds East of the Rockies,” by Chester A. 
Reed. 
‘'Water and Game Birds,” by Chester A. Reed. 
"Western Bird Guide,” by Chester A. Reed. (All 
published by Doubleday, Page & Co.) 
For more advanced students the following are recom- 
mended : 
"Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America,” by 
Frank M. Chapman (D. Appleton & Co.). 
"Handbook of Birds of Western United States,” by 
Florence Merriam Bailey (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.). 
Our study of birds should not stop with the name, be- 
cause we shall find many things of interest in the home 
life of birds, many things that seem to reflect our own 
lives. (See "Home Life of Wild Birds,” by F. H. Her- 
rick. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.) 
If we like to hear birds sing, if we enjoy the beauty 
of their coats, and 4 if they are valuable neighbors from 
the standpoint of dollars and cents, then it is worth 
while to consider *how we may have more of them about 
