Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-02-28
PROTECTION OF BIRDS |
Scheme to Interest Children In
 the Movement.
GREAT ECONOMIC CAMPAIGN.

School Army Throughout the Land to
 Be Enlisted to Save the Feathered
 Guardians of the crops-Immediate
 Building of Bird Houses Urged.
 On the millions of school children in the United States final hope of avert ing the extinction of the. valuable spe- cies of insectivorous birds has been rested.
 What the federal government, the state legislatures and even the granges, women's clubs and national commercial organizations have failed to accom- plish completely the National Associa- ton of Audubon Societies have an nounced will be now given to the chil- dren of the land to bring about To organize every nody of pupils, from the largest New York public school to the most remote district school on the Pa cific coast, into a general movement for housing, feeding and protecting the wild birds that save the country's crops is the object of the Audubon workers in New York city.
 General headquarters for this new campaign are being established in the offices of the National Association of Audubon Societies at Al Broadway, New York. Already the organization is in touch with thousands of teachers and girls and boys clubs throughout the country, to which 1t has regularly sent literature on bird guarding and care, says the New York Post. With these as nucleus the children are to push the fight until the members of each school fin every neighborhood are enlisted in the work of building bird houses and restaurants" to sustain the sadly thinned ranks of the feath- cred army of insect destroyers. Spe- cial ammunition in the form of print ed directions and suggestions for nfak- ing bird shelters and "lunch counters" is being prepared for every boy and girl who will write and ask for it.
 Old kettles, boxes and milk, tomato and kerosene cans are being used by the children as emergency bird shel ters. Elaborate houses, rustic imita. tions of hollow limbs and neatly fur nished apartments are also being plan ned. All must be made cat proof and should face to the south or west if possible. The feathered pair that will seek quarters for rearing their family In the spring will be particular in their tastes. If they find no promising spot for home in any locality, they will pass on and leave It's fields and gar dens at the mercy of insects. The children are urged to the immediate building of houses for this seasons bird families, because seasoned and weather beaten structures must quick y tempt the birds when spring nov Ing day comes.
 Ornithologlsts declare that the march of civilization has robbed millions of useful as we'll as slightly and tuneful birds of their old time facilities for homemaking. Sheltering tree trunks lre being laid low every year over hundreds of acres. The old fashioned structures, where birds might flock un- der open caves, are being replaced by modern roofs that shut out bird life. Whole races, like the chimney swifts, are being deprived of their shelter in the big. old style chimneys.
 Such conditions. combined with lax laws for spring shooting and pot hunt Ing, may drive the valuable insect eat CTS to extinction. It will be the chill dren's work to house the evicted birds at the time when they not only rear their young. but eat most copiously of the Insect crop destroyers.
 'The children are now the great fac tor In this economic movement" said William Butcher. president of the Ma tional Association of Audubon Socie- ties. Not only their patriotism, but the self interest of every one of their parents, is the motive for preventing the extinction of the beautiful and highly valuable birds of this country. We are calling on congress, the state legislatures and on every adult body to help, but I believe the work of the school children will accomplish more than all the other methods combined. It is fine chance for every boy and girl to do something for the village. state and the country at large. and I know they will not neglect to do their