_What the Birds do for us_
“Perhaps even those of you who love birds have never thought very much
about their ways of life. You are so accustomed to seeing them fly
about, and to hearing them sing, that you do not realize what a strange,
unnatural, silent thing springtime would be if the birds should all
suddenly disappear.
“Yes, indeed, the world would be sad and lonely without these beautiful
winged voices. But something even more dreadful would happen should they
leave us: the people of the world would be in danger of starving,
because the birds would not be here to feed on the myriad worms and
insects that eat the wheat and corn and fruits upon which we, together
with other animals, depend for food.
“The insects gnawing at the roots of the pasture grasses would destroy
both the summer grazing for the cattle and the hay for winter fodder; if
worms destroyed the forests, there would be no trees for firewood, and
also the lack of shade would make the sources of our rivers dry up and
we should soon suffer for water.
“Girls and boys might never think of this, but the Wise Men who live in
Washington, and form the association known as the Biological Survey, as
well as those of the Departments of Agriculture in each state, thought
of this long ago.
“They have worked hard and proved the truth of this whole matter, and
now know exactly upon what each kind of bird feeds; and laws are
everywhere being made to protect the useful birds from people who are
either so stupid or so vicious that they think a bird is something to be
shot or stoned, and that the robbing of nests of eggs is a clever thing
to do.
“Any child who stops to think must realize one thing: As almost all
birds live on animal food during the nesting season, and feed their
young with it, and many kinds eat it all the year, it follows that the
more birds we have the fewer bugs there will be.
“Also those birds who feed on seeds and wild fruits destroy in the
winter season quantities of weed seeds that would spring up and choke
the crops, while they sow the seeds of wild fruits and berries, because
the pits in these seeds, being hard, are dropped undigested.
“‘But,’ says some one, ‘the Robins and Catbirds came in our garden and
bit the ripe side of the strawberries and cherries that father was
growing for market, and we had to shoot them to make them stay away.’
“This is all true: some birds will steal a few berries, but for this
mischief they do good all the rest of the long season; so pray ask your
father to put only powder, a ‘blank cartridge,’ as it is called, in the
gun, that it may give the birds warning to keep off, but not kill them;
and let him save all the bullets and shot for the Coward Crow, himself a
nest robber, the Great Horned Owl, the Hen and Chicken Hawks, and the
English Sparrow.
“In the short stories that I am going to read or tell you of the birds,
I will try to speak of the chief food of each, so that you may put a
good mark beside its name in your memory, and try to realize that these
birds, beautiful as many are, still have a deeper claim upon you. I wish
you to see that they, as well as you, are citizens of this great
Republic and do their part for the public good, which, next to the care
and love of home, should be the chief ambition of us all, men or women.
“The wise men know this and they have made laws to protect the birds and
other animals from cruelty and destruction, just as they have made laws
to protect all other citizens. Listen to what your state forbids you to
do,—to the laws that if you break you must and should be punished:—