Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-01-02

Washington, D. c., Dec. 30.-At the
same time that the government is setting
out to count the people of the United
States through the agency of the census
bureau, it is also getting ready through
the biological survey to count the Amer
lean birds. The survey is getting into
touch with men and women IN all parts
of the United States who are qualified
for the difficult work of taking census
Of birds, and it is studying data on the
bird population which has been accumu-
lating in it's 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 ate lnforma, a.
| ton as to how many birds there are IN
the United States, and how many OF each
Of several different kinds. :,
The need for bird census is probably
not very apparent to most OF us Ihere
was some interest IN the undertaklng
when it was first launched BY the survey
back in 1914, because of its novelty: But
good many ridiculed the practicability
of counting the birds, and good many
more asked what was the use. The sci
entists recognize this inability Of the
public to appreciate the necessity OF
counting the birds. They do not ask
congress to make an appropriation Tor
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 q human
census. Amateurs are not wanted; only
competent ornithologists. The survey
now has about 200 such enumerators on
it's list of correspondents, and it is trying
| hard to get more. 1t also has about 4oO
correspondents who have been sending In
| data about the migration of birds. Some
| of these are amateurs who know and re-
| port on only few species of birds, but
| the scientists believe that 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 endless 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 ade-
quate 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
| If thy didn't, the insects would 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 rep.
resented by the mosquitoes. flies and
other insects that bring malaria. typhoid,
| typhus and other deadly diseases into
|
| TENS. At the same time. other DIVISIONS
of the insect army are waglng economic
war upon us. Hessian flies, corn borers
boil weeyils and locusts are destroying
our standing crops of wheat. corn and
cotton as effectively as any human army
| Wood borers and caterpillars are de-
strOying our forests or rendering the
wood in them unfit for use. Moths are
devouring our clothes, ants are winterlng
in our houses and eating and poisoning
our food. The larvae of various insects
are living in wait for unsuspecung teeth
! in apples and other fruits. man who
knew more about the subject could go
! on enumerating the crimes OF insects ps
the column. They are after us every
where and in every conceivable way. They
consume many thousand tons Of human
| food every year, and destroy millions Of
dollars worth Of industrial material They
kill thousands of human beings, and they
render whole regions almost unlnhabit
Fable. They have always been doing this
| and they do it so inconspIcuously that we
do not realize the tremendous extent OF
the damage.
In like manner the birds have always
been hard at work holding the insects
in control, and for the same reason We
have never fully realized the extent or
the necessity of this work on the part OF
the birds. They are the only incessant,
| ubiquitous defense we have against the
insects. There are 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 patch on the
tremendous and indispensable labor of
the birds.
To realize this work you have but to
walk over any farm and look at the birds
with comprehending eye. Here is a bit
of forest land upon which the farmer de-
pends for his fence posts and firewood.
and which contains some fine oaks and
black walnuts that will some day become
furniture and lumber. Little creepers
and nut matches are working on the
trunks and larger limbs of these trees,
as though they were paid by the piece.