The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1902-06-26
Monroe Journal.

OOVA S0ttCo oNotsSS W O's -
Life"
Monroe Journal.
Professor L. Gilbert Pearson, of the |
State Normal College, is an ornitholo-
gist who loves and studies birds |
rather than merely their names. He
is the author of charming little
book called .'Stories from Bird Life"
which the Journal has heretofore |
spoken Of The following article
should be of great interest to those
especially who come in daily contact
with so many of the birds, mans
friends:
To those who have thought but
little concerning the practical value
of birds to man, it may be new idea
that their usefulness is very pro-
nounced reality; this usefulness lies
chiefly in the service they render
as destroyers of insects which are in
furious to vegetation. as consumers
of small rodents, as destroyers OF
large quantities Of seeds of many
! noxious plants and as scavengers.
Birds constitute the chief force in
keeping down the surplus number of
insects which would otherwise be far
more destructive to the agricultural
products of the country. AS matters
now exist, one tenth of the entire
agricultural product of the United
States each year is total loss
through the inroads of insects, and
we are told that owing to the de-
creasing number of birds, this per-
centage is annually increasing. The
work that birds do simply as proven
tives is enormous.
The young of some species eat
more than their own weight Of insect
food daily. The adult birds Of many
kinds subsist chiefly on an insect
diet, and two-thirds Of the varieties
found in North Carolina are almost
wholly insectivorous. Birds digest
their food SO rapidly that it is difficult
to estimate the real amount which
they consume. 1t is known, how
ever that a swallow will eat six or
seven hundred flies in day. The
stomach of cuckoo shot at six
O'Clock in the morning, contained
twenty-three tent-caterpillars partly
, digested; how many would have been
destroyed by evening cannot well be
, estimated The stomachs Of chicka-
dees have frequently been found to
contain over two hundred eggs Of the
canker worm, and as many as twenty
five of the female moths, each holding
over one hundred eggs. 1t has been
estimated that during the ono month
that these insects infest the trees,
, each chicadee would destroy over
10000 eggs. A pewee, which | once
watched, captured sixteen insects
= during q period of ten minutes. The
bird would dart out few yards, seize
e a passing insect and return at once
to her lookout perch. When some
t hours later | again saw the bird, she
was still busy at her work.
The real value of birds as insect de
stroyers has not been appreciated
generally One reason for this is that
their work is not apparent to the
: casual observer, who rarely sees
v bird except when it is alarmed, ant
2 therefore is not feeding. Superficial
e observation has been cause fol
G much suffering to birds, and
r great pecuniary loss on the part o
s observers.
V We, as a people, have failed to OBJ
serve carefully the feeding habits o
our feathered friends, and thus hav
not learned their intrinsic value. Fo
the same reason we have not bee
s sufficiently interested and alert il
lie their preservation to enact adequat
Is laws for the protection of non-gam
e birds. There have been recorded i
II North Carolina 312 species of birds
20 Three hundred of these species are no
n protected by the laws Of the State e,
/ cept in few counties. Public senti
RS ment is so lax in many sections tina
v these laws are really little better tina
re no laws at all.
er There is scarcely bird within th
limit of our commonwealth that is NJ
regarded as a Legitimate mark for an
y gun. Numbers Of men and boys i
i almost every section Of the countr
d at times shoot non-game birds indi
g criminatcly. Thousands Of chime
swifts, swallows. martins and nigh
hawks (bullbats) are shot every sun
z. mer lust to see them fall. III
IL small boy plumbers the nests Of the
~ eggs for his collection, and docs s
%. unrestrained by parental authorit..
tic Our sea birds have been almost G,
i'd terminated by the plume hunter
nd who gather feathers for the gre
ng millinery houses. In some section
We of the central and Eastern portion
=" Of the State thousands OF young moe
It. ing birds are annually taken fro
nd their nests by people who attempt
1ic rear them by hand as singers for Il
ed ever ready Northern and Weste
ac- markets. Irresponsible parties wa
EN- dering about the fields, without q
Der least instincts Of sportsmanshi
T" shoot woodpecksrs, redbirds, spa
ns rows and shrushes. Only a short tir
IL since | heard gentleman complaI
nd ing that he had seen boy shootiI
,od mocking birds in the cemetery OF o
fB. OF our chief cities. The boy said tt
the he was trying TO see how ma
birds he could Kill in an hour" III
kind of thing has gone on too lor
- Many observing people will te1t
The that the common birds are not
az numerous in their sections as 10 4
ate msr years
,ch The problem with which nature
ful confronted. of adjusting the habits
adv her wild creatures to meet
Of changing environments occasioned
Who the advancement Of civilization j
,ro- the wilderness is stern one. VIII
see therefore, man adds TO her difficult
nds by causing the wholesale desti act
Iess Of any particular form Of wild
of hers NJ