The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-05-28
NEEDS OF THE BIRDS.


An erroneous idea that the birds
are gaining upon their foes and in.
creasing in numbers is now current,
says the Mew York Evenimg Post. II
is based upon the fact that in villages
and upon the estates of the well-to-do
where there are many trees, hedges
and close-growing shrubs the birds
seem to be more numerous than they
were some years ago. Plenty of COW
ers is the condition most essential to
the well-being of birds in general,
though certain species, such as larks
and bobolinks, nest in open, grassy
fields. Those who study the habits
of birds perceive that they are more
in evidence in villages than they used
to be, because they have wisely moved
in from the inhospitable farms outside
which had ceased to afford them suf-
fcient shelter.
Here is an instance of the readiness
with which birds respond to overtures
of hospitality from human kind:
The owner of an old village home,
rich in trees and shrubs, wishing to
attract bluebirds, year or two ago
put up six bird houses, and the fol-
lowing summer found five of them
ubiquitous, undesired English spar
row having taken possession of one.
Many such facts could be cited to
show the quickness of birds of dis
coving new nesting places purposely
provided for them, and truly pathetic
is the eagerness with which they claim
and cling to any site that affords shell
ter and protection for their nestings.
BIRDS DEPENDENT ON HUMAN AID.
Human interest and aid have be-
come vital necessity to our common
birds, and the utmost that we can do
often fails to avert "the tragedy of
the nest" So many carefully watch
ed and tended broods come to grief
that it seems miracle of success when
nestful of birdings is safely launch
ed upon the world of wings.
They must needs run the gantlet Of
many perils during their migrations
at inclement seasons, when they are
exposed to drenching and chilling
storms and are liable to be blown out
to sea or upon the Great Lakes tc
perish by drowning. Numerous and
powerful are their enemies, human,
winged and four-footed scanty and
ill-concealed are the nesting places
left to them in many localities.
The passing of the wayside hedge,
one charming feature of the rural
landscape which was common to re-
gions as far apart and dissimilar as
Maine and Virginia, has gradually de-
prived many birds of their old haunts
Along the unfrequented hilltop roads
and other neglected byways the wilc
hedges still persist, and in such place:
the birds are fairly numerous but be
side the turnpikes and all the much
travelled ways, the picturesque ole
stone walls and lichen-covered fence.
shaded with elder, wild cherry anG
sumac and other shrubs and trees il
rich variety, interviewer with grape
vines, clematis and Virginia creeper
spontaneous growths more charming
in their free profusion than the hedge
rows of the Old World with thei
monotony of tended loveliness-thes
have largely disappeared. Instea'
| thereof we see the ugliest substitute
for picturesqueness and beauty tha
modern ultilitarianism has been abl
to devise-the wire fence upheld b.
bare posts, kept carefully clear G
weeds and brush," phrase used t
cover all wild growths whether nox
ious or benefcent.
These Familiar Features of th
Roadside" upon which F. Schuyle
Mathews has discoursed sympatheti
cally, are becoming in many localitie
unfamiliar. Not only the natura
hedgerows, but the picturesque will
thorn and the sweetbrier, which use
to adorn every roadside and afforde
safe nesting place for many a robi
and chippie, have been cut down an
burned on the rubbish heap.
Thorn and "brere" are as charm
ing to poet, artist and simplest nature
lover today as they were to Chauce
in the dewy morning of English verse
Is the time at hand when bird an
poet must sing their elegy?
Contrast present conditions wit
those which prevailed few decade
ago and consider how much the bird
have lost. Formerly not the way
side fences only, but those which d
vided fields, were permitted to wea
the rich garniture of growing thing
sown by the birds and utilized b
them, the thick covert affording she
ter and concealment, and the will