The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-06-17
THE VALUE OF BIRDS
One Of the Greatest Assets Of Cult.
Vators of Crops

eSllHb anu valuable lclleI lIOm the
pen Of c. e. d. Sanborn of STAFFORD
on the value Of birds. The letter IS
as follows:
Il have no intention Of writing an
essay on birds but | have gathered
few facts and would like to i'm
press il on the minds of some others
how beneficial our birds are | am
afraid few people understand their
value, They regard them as beauti
full creatures, but the idea that they
are very important has never dawn
ed upon them.
The study Of them is a great plea
sure and to my mind there is no sub
ject in natural history so interesting
as the study Of birds.
This Is what Mr.. Forbush says
"The beauty OF birds. the music of
their songs, the weird widness of
their calls, the majesty Of their soar
ing fight, the mystery Of their mi
grafton have ever been subjects of
absorbing interest to poets, artists
and lovers of nature everywhere.
4h0lig q ANtN IuSl0Alh bOg DluA III W
western mountains, yearns for the
bubbling. joyous song OF the bobolink
in the June meadows The charac-
tiers and traits of birds, their loves
and battles, their skill in home build
ing, their devotion to their young,
their habits and ways, all are of hui
man interest. Shakespeare makes
over six hundred references to birds
and bird life. Much of the best lit
erature would lose one-half it's
charm we're it shorn of poets allus-
ions to birds Birds have often in
spired the poets. Some of the grand
est poems ever written have been de-
pendent on their authors obserya-
tons OF birds for some touch OF ma
ture to render them immortal. The
uplifting influence that birds. may ex-
ert on the lives of men constitutes
to many their greatest value and
charm
1T has been wisely said that one
would lose one-half the pleasure Of
living by not knowing birds and their
ways When you take a long ride
or walk, does not the song of the
bird add special charm? Just take a
field or opera glass with you and
study them a little. See how the
time goes and all the day when at
our work We listen TO them from the
chipping sparrow in the early morn
ing light, with its sweet little trill,
until the late song OF the vesper spar
row so beautiful and peaceful. Now
besides all this pleasure we must re-
alize the benefit of our songsters.
1t has been calculated that an
average insectivorous bird destroys
2400 insects in a year and when it
is remembered that there are over
100000 kinds OF insects in the Uni
ted States, the majority injurious, it
is seen how much good birds do, for
most of them live upon insects. 1t
has been found in Massachusetts
there are five insect-eating birds per
acre. Thus this state, with its 5000
square miles, has a useful bird popu-
lation of not less than 25,6OO,00O,
which, for each days fare, requires
the total of 1850, 100000 insects.
| about 10000 average insects fill a
| bushel measure This means that
the daily consumption of chiefly OBJ
noxious insects in Massachusetts is
q 600 bushels
This estimate is good for about
five months in the year, May to Sep
TENDER, inclusive; during the re-
mainder of the year, the insects eggs
and larvae destroyed by our winter,
both fall and early spring migrants,
would be about one-half this guam
tity
Il can remember well when it was
thought the king bird ate bees and
people would shoot them but il has
been found that they only eat a few
and those are mostly drones and that
after a fair trial it was found that
their food consisted of ninety per
cent insects.
1T is not generally known, nor is
it realized, how much good birds do
| by eating weed seeds Prof f. +. l..
| Beal has calculated that in Iowa the
little tree sparroy alone destroys L.
! 100000 lbs. of weed seeds every year.
1t has been said that two hundred
| millions of dollars that should 90 to
the farmer, the gardener and fruit
grower in the United States are lost
by the ravages of insects.
These facts show how important
it is that birds should be encouraged
and protected Their preservation
is not a matter of sentiment; they
are essential to the life of man.
have read that were all the birds to
perish men would soon follow. and
at the end of ten years the insects
green thing off the earth So in or.
der for the farmer to raise good crops
he must do all in his power to pro
tect our feathered friends He
should forbid hunting and shooting
on his land, for they soon learn
where there is no gun. l think a per
son a wicked brute that will kill one
of Gods beautiful creatures to show
his skill. Andrew Carnegie said he
would just as soon shoot an angel as
a song bird, for both must be akin
because both sing and fly One or
nithologist calmly told of killing 81
cross-bills to learn what kind of food
they had in their stomachs These
little birds, legend says, dyed theil
breasts with crimson and twisted
their bills awry in their struggle tC
pull the nails from our crucifed Saw
tours hands and feet
Birds like trees and shrubs ant
they are particularly fond of tangles
of vines and farmers make a very
great mistake in cutting off all these
along fences and streams. They moi
only give the birds nice places fol
homes, but help keep the stream:
frnnl druinn Nm niftnrnnt trnna nrl