The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-01-02
THE HASKINLETTER
COUNTING THE BIRTHS
BY ]. HASKIN.

WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. AT the
time that the government is set
ting out to count the people of the
United States through the agenty of
the census bureau, it Is also getting
ready through the biological survey to
count the American birds. The survey
is getting in touch with men and wom-
en- in all parts of the United States
who are qualified for the difficult work
OF taking a census of birds, and 1t Is
studying data on the bird population
which has been accommodating in its
files during the war, when there was
not time for such study. By some time
next summer 1t hopes to be able to
publish pretty accurate information as
to how many birds there are in the
United States, and how many OF each
of several different kinds,
The need for a bird census Is prob
ably not very apparent to most OF u.s.
There was some interest in the UNI
ld~ertaking when 1t was first launched
by the survey back in 1914, because OF
its novelty. But a good many ridiculed
the practicability of counting the birds,
and a good many more asked what
was the use. The scientists recognize
this inability Of the public to appre-
ciate the necessity of counting the
birds. They do not ask congress TO
make an appropriation for the work,
not because they do not think it is
worth the money, but because they
know they wouldn't get any, The bird
enumerators are all volunteers, And
they are a good deal harder to find
than are people competent to take a
human census. Amateurs are not
wanted, only competent ornithologists.
The survey now has about 200 such
enumerators on its list of correspond
ents. and 1t Is trying hard to get more.
1t also has about 400 correspond ents
who have been sending in data about
the migrations Of birds. Some of these
are amateurs who know and report on
only a few species of birds, but the
scientists believe that a good many OF
these migration reporters are capable
Of making reliable census estimates,
The great economic Importance of a
bird census rests upon the fact that
birds are our chief allies in our end
less war with insects. The newspaper
reader has heard before that the birds
are valuable to the farmer because
they eat bugs that damage crops, But
that is hardly an adequate statement
of the case. 1t would be more nearly
the whole truth to say that they are
necessary to the human race because
they eat insects in general.
II they didn't, the insects you'd
quickly eat us, Life is a close fight
between the men and the insects all
the time. The fighting front Of the
insect world Is represented by the mos
uuitoes, flies and other insects that
bring malaria. typhoid typhus and
other deadly diseases into our houses
and plan them in our systems. At the
same time, other divisions of the in
sect army are waging economic war
rr~n US. Hessian flies, corn borers,
boil weevils and locusts are destroying
800 . 80 ,-l-.t A--A 49,
Gotten as effectively as any human
army, Wood borers and ~caterpillars
are DESTROYING our forests or rend ring
the wood in them unfit for use, Moths
are dev0uring our clothes, ants are
wintering in our houses and eating and
poisoning our food, The larvae Of va
r Gus insects are lying in wait for I'M
suspecting teeth in apples and other
fruits, a man who knew more about
the subject could &c on enumerating
the crimes OF insects by the column.
They are after us everywhere and in
every conceivable way. They Consum
many thousand tons CT human food
every year, and destroy millions Of dol
lars worth of industrial material. They
kin thousands Of human beings, and
they render whole regions almost uu-
inhah.tahle, Thev have always been
doing this and they do it so incon-
~spiCuOuslN that We do not realize the
tremendous extent Of the damage,
In like n the birds have always
been hard at work holding the insects
in control, and for the same reasons
We AVE never fully realized the extent
or the necessity of this work on the
part of the birds. They are the only
incessant. ub 'Quitous defense we have
against the insects. There are a few
mammals that prey on insects, and we
have devised some fairly effective
though expensive methods OF fighting
the insects ourselves, but all of the
work that man and the other mammals
do is not a patch on the tremendous
and INDISPENSABLE labor OF the birds.
To realize this work YOU have but
o walk over any farm and look at the
b rds with n compromising eye. Here
s a bit Of forest lard upon which the
'armer depends for his fence posts and
rirewood, and which contains some fine
Naks and black walnuts that will some
day become furniture and lumber. Lit
le Creepers aid nut-hatches are work
ing or the trunks and larger limbs Of
'hese trees, as though they were paid
by the piece. There NAV be only three
r four Of them in n 40-acre tract of
timber, but they 60 over every crevjce
in the bark Of all the trees. picking
>ut insects and their eggs. That for
st could not live without them. Nor
,ould IL live without the farCer wood
'eckers that perform the major opera
ions on the trees. as a surgeon works
IN a human body. ~uncoVering with
heir sharp bills. boring insects that
lave penetrated far into the vitals Of
the trees. Some of these woodpecke~s,
II Is true, injure trees, but most of
them merely dig out deadly insect pests.