The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-29

and others have been reduced to the danger point by the same cause. Many other species are rapidly diminishing as a direct or indirect result of mans ac- tivities.
 The investigations of the United States biological survey indicate that birds as a whole are of the greatest value to the general agricultural interests of the country. An insignificant minority of birds-as for instance the sharped skinned and Cooper's hawks. which prey largely upon useful birds, and certain birds that do extensive damage to farm crops-has been condemned, but the great mapority of species have been found through care ful investigation of the contents of their stomachs, to be decidedly beneficial.
 Although the relation of birds to forests has not been studied quite so carefully in this country as their relation to purely agricultural crops, yet considerable data has been compiled on this subject and these indicate that birds in the forests are fully as useful as. and perhaps less harm ful, than they are in the cultivated fields.
 Among the conspicuously useful forest birds is the familiar chickadee, consid- erably more than one-half of whose food consists of moths. caterpllars and other harmful insects and their eggs. The wood peckers also are great forest protectors, 76 per cent of their food sconsisting of animal matter, largely boring beetles
 These birds and some others are work ing for us during the entire year. Other forest birds, as for instance. the many species of wood warblers. the kinglets, cuckoos, certain fycatchers. thrushes, Itc are with us only part of the year, but during that period they are of vast importance as checks upon the increase of insects injurious to forest trees.
 It is interesting to note that German foresters reached a conclusion as regards the value of their forest birds sometime ago and they are now showing us how to answer the question as to what meas ures should be taken to protest and in- crease such birds. The city of Frankfort on the Main expends about s4O0 annually in such work. An area of two and one half acres adjacent to one of the forest nurseries has been especially set aside for bird protective work in an intensive way. Of the one hundred specially constructed nesting boxes on this area 90 per cent are said to be occupied by birds each year. Feeding stations and baths are also main- tained. one of the latter being SO con- structed that the water is prevented from freezing in cold, weather by the heat of kerosene lamps beneath it. while blocks of wood and perches are set in the water at varying depths to accommodate differ ent species of birds.
 Darmstadt has placed some six thou sand nesting boxes in it's woods of which between 80 per cent and 90 per cent are occupied yearly. has established 30 feed ing. drinking and bathing stations for birds and planted two areas with special shrubs adapted to pruning for bird nest ing purposes.
 Tn the Heidelberg forest. besides nest ing boxes. single shrubs or small groups of species similar to those at Darmstadt are planted in young plantations of for est trees and so pruned as to form plat forms for the nests of birds that nest naturally in shrubs and trees. after the method devised and practiced with such wonderful success by Baron Hans von Behlepsch on his estate at seebach, Ger man. Here, too, are about 50 feeding stations.
 Owing in part to the comparative nov eltv of the artificial nesting box. and in part to the presence of good many natural nesting cavities in our forests birds thus far have not taken readily