14 TH’, AU D U°B ON 3B Uri ere 
Birds—Just Birds 
By Mrs. J. BENTON SCHAUB* 
EACH RETURNING AUTUMN bring’s the thought of what an ideal time winter 
is to become acquainted with some of our feathered friends. There aren’t 
so many of them about then and our handout of sunflower seeds, suet, 
finely cut chickfeed, small grains, and bread crumbs is such a great help 
to them that they come to it again and again when they find we are faith- 
ful in keeping our bird shelf supplied. 
I have been asked, usually by folks without a garden, why we should 
want to be interested in birds. My first reply is, “For the pure joy they 
bring into our lives through the medium of both sight and sound.” Eco- 
nomically, I know that every’ gardener needs their help and that anything 
he can do to keep them in his vicinity adds to the joy he gets at the sight 
of healthier vegetation and foliage, and when scientists tell us that were 
it not for our bird population life as we know it would soon become extinct, 
we begin to sit up and take notice. The reasoning is something like this: 
The insect population multiplies so rapidly that without the control which 
the bird population gives the green of the vegetation would, in a very short 
time, be devoured. It is the chlorophyll in the green leaves that gives off 
the oxygen we breathe and takes out of our atmosphere the poisonous carbon 
dioxide and makes our atmosphere livable. Whether we wish it so or not 
we are, as yet, dependent for life itself upon the bird population of our 
globe. That sometimes makes an impression, but I still maintain that the 
beauty of the sight of birds and the sound of their voices is excuse enough 
for wanting them near, and I have never heard the complaint that anyone 
was sorry he knew any bird. It is a recreation worth cultivating for it 
grows in attraction through the years. 
Birds that stay with us throughout the year are called permanent resi- 
dents. Those that raise their families in our vicinity but migrate to another 
part of the country for three months or longer are our summer residents. 
Birds that raise their families elsewhere but come to spend three or more 
months with us we call winter visitors, and birds that pass through our 
part of the country as they journey from place to place are called migrants. 
The last of the migrants are just passing through and today, October the 
twelfth, we looked out of our window and saw seven hermit thrushes 
turning over the leaves in our shallow pools to find some extra food as they 
bathed, and we stood wondering how they could manage to feel that a bath, 
with the cold raw wind blowing and the temperature around fifty, was so 
necessary. We hope they come our way again and we will again furnish 
them with soaked raisins to keep them sojourning with us for a few extra 
days; and with the passage of the last of the migrants we will find the 
permanent residents coming to us for additional help to cng them to 
endure our northern winters. 
On the swinging sunflower feeder there will be the black-capped chicka- 
*Contributed by Mrs. Schaub, Chairman of Ornithology for The Garden Club of Illi- 
nois, to “Garden Glories,” the bulletin of that Society. 
