ipsa As Uc DU BrO UNG IB Usie lant N 13 
showed a great deal of interest in the procedure and in the beauty of the 
wood ducks and blue-winged teal which had obligingly entered the trap, and 
in the study of the plumage that the close observation of the birds made 
possible. 
FI ft fi 
MONDAY EVENING, November 38, the Society was pleased to present Mr. 
Karl H. Maslowsky, whose lecture and colored moving pictures entitled, 
“Diary of a Naturalist” had been announced on the usual postcard notices. 
He gave us many unusual shots of the wildlife of the Miami Valley, espe- 
cially some of the ducks and a family of small foxes which must have 
required much time and infinite patience to secure. 
ft Si ia 
They Work for Their Board 
By C. O. DECKER 
THE THOUGHT frequently comes to mind as to what the interest of the newly 
attracted bird student is in the birds to which he devotes so much time and 
attention. Does it gc beyond the appreciation of their beauty or of the 
observation of their songs, habits and mannerisms? Among’ professional 
ornithologists the study goes much further and involves the feeding habits, 
from which the general value of the species to man can be determined. 
When we are told by them of the investigation of the food habits of birds, 
it is not guesswork or prejudice and is not to prove that birds are either 
beneficial or the reverse, but to know the truth about birds. 
A serious study of the food of our common birds would easily convince 
even the most skeptical that the birds are of tremendous value to the farmer. 
No using of sprays, poisons, or the setting of traps can compete with birds 
in their destruction of harmful insects and rodents. Add to this the enor- 
mous quantities of weed seeds destroyed each year and the credit to the 
birds becomes one almost impossible to compute in dollars and cents. If the 
farmers once realize what powerful friends they have in the wild birds they 
will be the best bird protectors on earth. 
Throughout the State of Illinois farms afford a greater opportunity 
for the conservation of birds than any other medium. Almost without 
exception there are somewhere on every farm a woodlot, small patches of 
shrubbery, or growths of shrubs and vines along fences. These make ideal 
covers for the birds, both as nesting sites and as shelters from the weather 
and from their predatory enemies. Grass and grain fields are sought by 
quail, meadowlarks, bobolinks, dickcissels, vesper and other sparrows. 
A farm without birdlife would lose one of its greatest attractions, and 
if the birds should disappear the farmer himself would be the first to note 
their absence. He would also soon note damage to his growing grains and 
fruits which before would have been negligible. Birds constitute the prin- 
cipal check upon the weeds and insects and rodents which cause tremendous 
loss every year. The farmer’s loss is by no means his alone; we must all 
share it, whether we wish to or not, for we all eat what the farmer grows, 
and whatever loss he sustains by having a part of his crop destroyed we 
