The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-06-04
BIRDS PROTECT CROPS.
Woods and Waters Live Through Them
Governors Conclave to Have Audubon
Help First Step for Uniform Laws.

w COQS anu waters Live ulOuSH 1 hem.
Governors Conclave to Have Audubon
Help. First Step for Uniform Laws.
NEW YORK, May 25. That no factor
in the problem of conserving the land,
water and forest resources of this
nation equals that which nature has
provided in the feathered wild life of
the continent is the opinion expressed
by leading ornithologists in this city
today. Following the conference of
governors in Washington, officers of
the National Association of Audubon
Societies have decided to offer the CO.
operation Gf their organization in this
great work, in pushing which the asso-
citation has been the pioneer and only
active organization ever since its incor-
poration. Although the workers for
bird preservation were not represented
at the gubernatorial conclave at the
White House, government authorities
have assured them that the protection
of the insect eaters that insure life to
crops, woods and waterways should be
one of the first practical means to the
general end.
Crops flourish and forests stand to
conserve land and water largely
through the activities of the existing
bird guard that ceaselessly fights their
natural destroyers, the investigators of
the government point out. With a
known loss Of over SS00,0O0,000 to the
crops of the country last year due to
killing off their guardian tlocks, the
corresponding effect on woods and wa
tiers may be reckoned in the billions of
dollars, the Audubon workers declare.
Uniform laws for bird protection, if
adopted by the States, would go far to
ward off these growing inroads of in
sects and other pests, they say, and
this might well be the first step to be
taken following the deliberations of
the house of governors.
While the value Of the birds to the
farmer, orchardist and planter has for
years been recognized, it is believed by
the authorities that their Importance
ir preserving the forests is not general
ly known. According to recent re-
port of the government, insects alone
cause an annual loss to the trees of the
country estimated at over hundred
million dollars. On the oak alone four
hundred species of insects which are
sought and consumed by the birds of
the forest, prey constantly, the experts
of the Biological Survey have discover
ed On the willow 1856 such species
constantly attempt its destruction, on
the pine 165, on the hickory 10, on the
birch 105 and on the elm 80. Careful
analysis of the stomachs of thousands
of woodpeckers, titmice, creepers, king
lets, wood warblers, wrens, fy-catchers,
swallows, nut matches and other birds
of the woods show that their constant
labor is to consume just these devas-'
Eating insects.
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