Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-01-02

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IL Of the work THAI man and the
other mammals, do Il not . patch
on the tremendous and indispens-
able labor Of the birds.
To realize this work YOU haye
but to walk over any farm and Look
at the birds with comprehending
eye. Here is 4 bit OF forest land
upon which the farmer depends TO-
his fence posts and IRE. wood. and
which contains some fine oaks AMI
black walnuts that will some day
become furniture and lumber. Lit-1
tie creepers and nut-hatches are
working on the trunks and larger
limbs OF these trees, rs though they
were paid by the piece. There flsy
be only three or four of them in a
40-acre tract of timber, but they go
over every crevice in the bark o.
ali the trees, picking out insects
and their eggs. That forest could
no. live without them. Nor could
it live without the larger wood
peokers that perform the major
operations on the trees. as a sur
geon works on a human body, un-
covering with their sharp bills.
boring insects that have penetrated
far into the vitals of the trees.
Some OF these wood-peckers, it IS
true, injure trees, but most of thehl
merely dig out deadly insect pests,
while the holes in which they have
their nests are nearly always drllt-
ed In dead trees.
Among the branches of the trees
are numerous perch:ng birds, su"n
as thrushes and vireos and war
I; blers, who are hunting for the in
, sects that infest the leaves and
twigs.
Go on the grain fields, and vol
| will find a covey OF bob-whites sys-
tematically patrolling them for the
insects that blight and devour the
grain. Meadow-larks are at work
there, too, and numerous other
species help to some extent. In
tho orchard, in the vegetable gar
den, it is the same. The cat-bird,
robin and mocking-bird are hard
at work doing what would other
wise cost much in money and hui
| man labor. And swallows are pa
trolling the air, catching flies and
mosquitoes and midges and gnats
When the sun sets and the swal-
lows 90 to roost, the whip-poor'
wills, after singing their evening
song, take the work up where ths
swallows left OF.
It is literally true that but fol
this restless activity Of the birds
we could not exist. And it is there
fore important to know how man!
birds we have, and why there ar
not more. The counts SO far takei
indicate that there is, en- an aver
age. one pair of nesting birds to thu
acre on eastern American far.
lands. But they also show tina
where birds have been properl.
protected and encouraged, Their
are three and even four pairs to tn
acre. In q word, we have onl.
about a third as many birds as W
might have. And there is litt'
doubt but what If we had thre'
times as many birds we would has'
a great deal more to eat ana "ea'
and use.
| OF course, birds do damage here
and there. No one. except . lev
sentimentalists, wants all the DlrG'
protected all the time 1t Is lntei
ligent control Of nature that !;
needed. Indiscriminate protection
is no better than indiscriminate de
struction. If the reed-birds are de
vourong rice crops in South Caro-
lima and Georgia they must be shot
When great fiocks Of wild geest
settle on the sprouting fields IL
California and nip the crops OF
close to the ground, the farmers
sometimes have to hire regiment:
, OF men to shoot at them, and spe
!. cial permits to kill them in tn
. closed season are issued by thu
government.
d Nor is there any harm in killini
part of the natural increase 0
game birds. Nature intended the
, these birds should furnish food TO
, othe. animals. We have killed OF
/ many of the natural enemies of tn
quail for example. and it is RICH
], that we should gather crop o
iquail every year.
i But the trouble is that we over