White County record., 1922-07-06
BOY SCOUTS AND BIRDS

The same energy which used to go into robbing birds nests and bringing Cock Robin down with a sling shot is still inherent in the small boy, but in scouting it is put to other uses which are constructive instead of destruc- tive. Every winter scouts maintain hundreds of feeding stations for their feathered friends and every spring thousands of bird houses are built and set up by boy scouts all over the coun- try, so that when the birds come north no renting problems await them. Near ly every local council and many indi- vidual troops conduct a bird house building contest which rouses great in- terest among scouts and fulfills more than one purpose in that not only are the birds well served, but the boys get practical carpentry training. In plan- ming the houses they observe and dis cover bird habits, in the endeavor to build houses which will suit the prospective tenant. To most people a bird house is bird house, but scout knows that what will be just the thing for wren may not please bluebird at all.
 Taking bird censuses and coOperat- ing with Audubon societies in protect ing bird life are also fairly frequent in scout activities. A certain troop in San Francisco which has made a spe- cialty of bird study and conservation has been made official guardians of the birds of Golden City Park.
 Another feature of bird conservation work which received much attention at the twelfth annual meeting of the national council in March at the sug- gestion of John NJ. Phillips of Pitts 1 burgh is the project of planting large numbers of mulberry trees for the ben eft of the robins and other fruit-eating birds which are in danger of extinction at the hands of farmers who realize only that the birds eat their own fruit crops without also realizing that they do an incalculable service in the de- struction of insects. From March until June," says John NJ. Phillips, who was instrumental in getting the Bow ] Scouts of America to take action in this matter, "the robins and other 
 forests clean of destructive insect life. and make possible our small fruiL crops Yet in June, when the parent birds attempt to collect for~ their hungry babies their tithe of cherries and berries which they had an inds- pensable share in raising, they meet with a very different reception from that to which they are entitled espe cially since the federal government Is now issuing permits to kill robins when they are committing or are about to commit serious injury to cherries and other small fruit trees. Such ac- tion, according to Mir. Phillips, is not only a serious blunder, but real breach of honor to our feathered ben efactors. His solution is, supply more fruit and berries of an unmarketable variety. The sweet cherry and the null berry, both cheap and quick to grow, are prime favorites with the birds, and consequently planting these species means saving more valuable crops, especially as they bear continuously all summer, and one tree will feed hun dreds of birds. Scouts are not only to plant these trees themselves, but they are to help to educate the public, es- pecially the farmer public, as to the practical as well as humane aspect of such procedure.