THE
CHEMAWA
AMERICAN
33
All boys and girls can help to prevent the state of affairs described
by Longfellow from o ccu rrin g in th e U nited S tates. P rotect the birds
and th e ir nests. L et no harm come to them if it is in your power to
prevent it. T h e bov th a t saves the life of one pair of robins and the
offspring for ten years will have saved 120,932,352 robins and this
m eans a very large am ount of money in crops, as the birds save th e
crops. T h e bov w ho destroys one pair of robins will have destroyed
the m illions of birds in ten years w hich m eans the destruction of a very
large value in crops.
You may ask w hy it is th at we do not have more birds th an we do if
the rate of increase is so great? T here are m any circum stances in the
life of birds th at cut off th is increase. T he food supply for all seasons
of the year is the greatest factor in the bird problem . T h e n ex t factor
of im portance is the severe clim atic changes w hich occur in th is coun
try . Some of th e other hinderances are the cat, the E n g lish sparrow ,
and the tho u g h tless boy.
H as m an had a n y th in g to do in cu ttin g off the food supply of the
birds? He is proven g u ilty , sentence is passed, and th e penalty is be
ing w orked out. Man in clearing the land destroyed the native fruits
th a t were the b ird s’ natu ral sup p ly , so they take the n ex t best, the
tam e fruits. Do not kill the bird th a t m ore th an pays for the small
am ount of fruit it eats bv d estro y in g harm ful insects.
M any birds are killed in storm s of w ind, rain, sleet, snow and hail.
T he m igratory birds in ch an g in g from north to south often venture too
late and are overtaken by a snow storm or severe cold w eather. T hey
are also cau g h t in the same m anner when they v enture from th e south too
early in the sp rin g . Man has destroyed much of th eir natural shelter in
clearing the land for his home. Beyond this man is not responsible for the
destruction caused bv clim atic conditions. T he cat is recognized by m any
as the w orst enem y of our native birds. My atten tio n has been draw n to
m any a tree by th e plaintive cry of the robin as she tries to frighten
the cat from her nest co n tain in g the young ones. Professor F orbush
observed a cat destroy six b ird s’ nests in one day, and he has estim ated
th a t the cat is responsible for th e death of about fifty birds a year.
T he few pairs of little birds th a t were let loose in th e City of Boston
a few years ago, w ith the hopes th a t they would destroy the canker
w orm s th a t were devouring the leaves of their shade trees, have become
a m enace to the lives of m any of our native birds. T hey break up th e
nests of robins, bluebirds, w rens, swallows, song sparrow s and vireos.
T he E nglish Sparrow s com m ence n esting in F eb ru ary , choosing various
places for th eir nests, such as bird-houses, hollow trees, nooks about the
barn, in fact they select m any desirable places and if any bird dares to
interfere the sparrow s will mob him . T housands of dollars have been